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Archive for July, 2010
Agreements signed between India and Myanmar during the visit of Chairman, State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar (July 27, 2010)
Published by July 28th, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 CommentsJoint Statement during the visit of Chairman, State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar
Published by July 28th, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 CommentsFrom the Ministry of External Affairs (accessed 27/07/2010, 731 PM IST)
At the invitation of the President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, the Head of State of the Union of Myanmar, Senior General Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of the Union of Myanmar, is paying a State Visit to India from July 25- 29, 2010. The Chairman is accompanied by his wife Daw Kyaing Kyaing. Apart from his official engagements in New Delhi, Senior General Than Shwe will also visit places of economic, historical and religious interest.
2. This visit is a part of a series of high-level contacts that India and Myanmar have had over the past few years. These include visits by Vice Senior General Maung Aye, Vice-Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of the Union of Myanmar, in April 2008 and Shri M. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India, in February 2009.
3. In New Delhi, Senior General Than Shwe was accorded a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 27 July 2010. He was received by the President of India, who hosted a banquet in his honour.
Burmese refugees disappointed over Myanmar junta ruler’s visit
Published by July 28th, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 CommentsFrom The Morung Express
Burma leader expects silence from India visit
by Amit Baruah from the BBC.
As Burma’s top leader, General Than Shwe, pays a five-day state visit to India, the BBC’s Hindi Service editor Amit Baruah asks what reaction the military ruler can expect from the world’s largest democracy.
The general is unlikely to face open diplomatic pressure in Delhi
Silence. And the absence of disapproval.That is what Burma’s Gen Than Shwe will be looking for from Delhi, after touching down in the Buddhist pilgrimage town of Bodh Gaya on Sunday morning.
And he will get it.
As Burma’s junta prepares to hold much-criticised elections later this year, the silence of the world’s largest democracy on Than Shwe’s plans will be good enough for the ruling generals, many of whom are shedding their military stripes ahead of the polls.
When Than Shwe meets Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Hyderabad House in Delhi, there will be no press conference, not even a sound byte. Silence will be guaranteed.
After giving its full-throated support to the democratic movement after the 1990 elections in Burma, India has studiously wooed the generals - who first lived in Rangoon and now reside in the new capital of Naypyitaw - for over a decade.
INDIAN CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS APPEAL TO THE PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA TO PRESSURE BURMA’S GENERAL FOR GENUINE ELECTIONS
New Delhi: Burma Centre Delhi (BCD) submits an open letter to Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India, calling on the Government of India to pressure Burma’s military regime to hold genuinely free and fair elections. The letter is endorsed by 38 civil society organisations and 71 individuals which comprise intellectuals, prominent activists, lawyers, film makers, writers etc from India.
The letter requests the Government of India to denounce the upcoming 2010 elections in Burma, unless the military regime takes key steps towards genuine democratization: release all political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, end attacks against ethnic groups, engage in genuine political dialogue, review the 2008 Constitution and 2010 Election Laws, and conduct free, fair and inclusive elections under the supervision of the United Nations and the international community.
“It is completely unacceptable that the Government of India is allowing our neighbour to go ahead with such fundamentally flawed elections,” said Dr. Alana, Coordinator of BCD “Prime Minister Singh, as the leader of the biggest democracy in the world, must take a lead in pressuring Than Shwe to uphold basic democratic principles that are so far being ignored in preparation for 2010 elections. His silence will be a double-standard that the people of India will not accept.”
Media Release
Indian Parliamentarians Protest the Visit of Burma’ Senior General Than Shwe
25 July 2010
Indian Parliamentarians’ Forum for Democracy in Burma (IPFDB) expresses their protest on the government’s decision to welcome the state visit of the Senior General Than Shwe of Burma at this point of time in India.
The IPFDB wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh and expressed their concerns of the view that Indian government should not lend legitimacy for the military rule and its abusive human rights violations in Burma by focusing primarily on military and economic corporation with the military dictatorship in Burma.
The parliamentarians urge the Prime Minister to take this visit as an opportunity to convey the clear message that India is in favor of free, fair and inclusive political processes in the neighboring country.
The IPFDB also suggested the Prime Minister to tell the Burmese general that Burma’s 2008 forcefully adopted military controlled constitution and recently announced election law must be amended, otherwise the scheduled 2010 polls will be “very difficult to judge as free, fair or credible.”
Life and times of a dictator Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma’s Tyrant
Published by July 26th, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments
BOOK REVIEW
Life and times of a dictator
Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma’s Tyrant by Benedict Rogers
Reviewed by Bertil Lintner
CHIANG MAI - When Myanmar military dictator General Ne Win was still alive, foreign pundits often postulated that the country would change for the better once he passed from the scene. The country would still be ruled by the military, they predicted, but by a younger generation of more reform-minded officers that would bring Myanmar, also known as Burma, out of the Dark Ages.
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From Business Standard: “Smiling, the official added, “If Myanmar is the gateway to India’s ‘Look East’ policy, and if the Than Shwe visit underlines Myanmar’s interest in using India as a counterpoise to China, equally Myanmar is a country where India and China can meet in a win-win partnership.””
From AFP: “India Blasted by Rights Groups”
From Asia Times: “Though it is unlikely to appear in the official agenda, Than Shwe will expect Indian leaders to recognize, if not endorse, the upcoming general election in Myanmar. Such recognition would boost the junta’s quest for international legitimacy for the vote, expected in November.”
From The Independent: India rolls out red carpet for its pariah friend Than Shwe. The world’s largest democracy may have an eye on Burma’s energy reserves
From The Democratic Voice of Burma: “The 164-member International Forum for Human Rights (IFHR) said it was “deeply troubled” that India was welcoming the head of a junta that may be responsible for “war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law”.”
From The Independent: “”Delhi risks finding itself on the wrong side of history”
From Mizzima: India to keep silent on 2010 election opposition says
Burma leader’s India visit draws rights criticism
Published by July 26th, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 CommentsFrom the BBC
Gen Than Shwe Burma and India have enjoyed warm relations over the last 10 years
Burmese military ruler General Than Shwe has arrived in India for a controversial five-day visit, which has been condemned by rights groups.
The junta leader is expected to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a trip that marks India’s desire to strengthen trade links with its neighbour.
Rights groups have written to Mr Singh saying it was “unbecoming” of a democracy to welcome Gen Than Shwe.
Burma’s junta is accused of widespread human rights abuses.
Until the mid-1990s, Delhi was a supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s imprisoned pro-democracy leader.
But analysts say India’s desire to do business with Burma, reputed to have large reserves of natural gas and precious stones, has since outweighed concerns over human rights.
Burmese pro-democracy campaigner in Delhi India has kept diplomatically silent over Burmese democracy
The BBC’s Subir Bhaumik in Calcutta says some Indians welcome what they see as a pragmatic approach to foreign policy, but many others support Burma’s pro-democracy movement and accuse their country of not doing enough to support it.
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