DECEMBER 1, 2009, 1:01 P.M. ET
A Burma Policy for India
Prime Minister Singh can support democracy and engage the regime, too.
By BENEDICT ROGERS
Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh had a largely successful summit with President Barack Obama last week. There is, however, one issue which remains cause for concern: India's Burma policy.
India has a particular historical responsibility for Burma, in part because in colonial times the two countries were ruled by the British as one. Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained leader of Burma's opposition party, went to school in New Delhi, for instance, where she became childhood friends with Jawaharlal Nehru's grandchildren. Past Indian governments have honored this link: During the 1998 prodemocracy protests, Rajiv Gandhi's government expressed support for Ms. Suu Kyi.
India's policy has shifted in recent years, thanks to concerns about the need to counterbalance China's influence and a wish to increase trade. In 2004, Burma agreed to sell India some 80% of the power generated from a dam in Sagaing Division in return for Indian construction assistance. India also sought a military alliance with the regime, including an agreement to provide arms and military training to the Burmese army, in the hopes of getting help in crushing insurgents in northeastern India.
On balance the expected benefits have not materialized. In 2006, the Burmese regime awarded China a huge natural gas contract, even though India had offered a higher bid and Burma's generals had earlier promised the deal to India. Meanwhile, Burma's assistance in fighting Indian insurgents has been minimal, and the arms India sold have instead been used to suppress Burma's own people. The energy projects resulted in land confiscation, the displacement of thousands of people, and accompanying human-rights violations including rape, torture and forced labor.
India is mistaken if it believes it can really compete with China's influence in Burma. China's annual bilateral trade with Burma is already one-and-a-half times India's, and Beijing has become one of the regime's closest friends. It is very likely that as Burma's regime starts to engage with the U.S. and continues to depend on China for protection, India will find itself squeezed out.
India has also remained silent on Burma's human-rights violations in a bid to curry favor with the regime. India joined Belarus, China, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Zimbabwe last month in voting against a resolution on Burma's human-rights abuses at the United Nations General Assembly.
It is not too late for India to revise its position and develop its own distinctive Burma policy supportive of democracy. Mr. Singh and his government could raise concerns more robustly with the regime; support Burma resolutions at the U.N.; seek regular meetings with Ms. Suu Kyi; and press the regime to review the new constitution and engage in meaningful dialogue with all political parties ahead of next year's elections. On the military front, an immediate and complete end to the provision of arms and military training to Burma's regime would be welcome. India might also be consider permitting international humanitarian aid cross-border to victims of famine and severe poverty in western Burma, and funding Burma's civil-society groups.
A senior official in India's Ministry of External Affairs told me recently that "our hearts are still with the democracy movement in Burma, but our heads are with the generals." India needs to combine head and heart and realize that in the long-run it is in its own national interest to promote democracy in Burma.
Mr. Rogers, East Asia team leader at Christian Solidarity Worldwide in London, is author of "Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma's Tyrant," forthcoming from Silkworm Books.
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Benedict Rogers
East Asia Team Leader
Christian Solidarity Worldwide UK
PO Box 99
New Malden
Surrey KT3 3YF
www.csw.org. uk
www.changeforburma. org
Direct dial: (+44) (0)208-329-0041
General line: (+44) (0)845 456 5464
Fax: (+44) (0) 208-942-8802
Christian Solidarity Worldwide is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all.
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Thursday, December 3, 2009
A Burma Policy for India
Situation in Eastern Burma 'comparable to Darfur
Situation in Eastern Burma 'comparable to Darfur
'A new report shows that conditions in Eastern Burma are now comparable to the war-torn Darfur in Sudan. As a result of the systematic violations of human rights by Military Junta, there are already tens of thousands new refugees during last years.
Wednesday, 02 December 2009, by HRH Oslo, based on www.burma.no, www.uriks.no
A new report from the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), one of the Church NCA main partners in Burma, shows that the inhumane conditions in large parts of eastern Burma has gone from bad to worse during last years.
Last years, 120 villages have been destroyed, and at least 75,000 people became refugees and more than half a million were internally displaced in eastern Burma in the past year, following increased militarisation, which strongly indicates crime against humanity comparable to the situation in Darfur.
According to the report, since 1996, over 3,500 villages, including 120 communities between August 2008 and July 2009, in Eastern Burma have been destroyed and forcibly relocated.
Food insecurity, landmines, forced labour and very limited access to life-supporting health and sanitation facilities characterize the conditions for the civilian population.
- The number of human rights violations as well as the increasing number of the displaced people is a scary prospect. The only way to realize our hope to resolve the catastrofic refugee situation in Bruma means is to introduce fundamental polotical, economic and social changes. The international community must strengthen its pressure on the military junta and its supporters," says Secretary General of Norwegian Church Aid, Atle Sommerfeldt.
HRH Oslo, based on www.burma.no, www.uriks.no
http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/12655.html
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