New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burmese pro-democracy activists in India staged a protest demonstration in New Delhi on Friday, calling for the release of 34 ethnic (Arakan) Rakhine and Karen who have been detained in India for 13 years.
All the charges against them have been cleared since July 2010, but they are still being held in Presidency jail in Kolkata, West Bengal.Pro-democracy activists staged the protest at Janta Manta near Parliament in downtown New Delhi.
‘The court has settled and compounded their cases, and also the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in New Delhi has already issued temporary refugee certificates to them, but they are still being detained’, said Kim, a protest leader who works in the Burma Centre Delhi (BCD).
According to activists, Indian intelligence officials deceived the 34 members of the National United Party of Arakan (NUPA) and the Karen National Union (KNU) by telling them that they would be provided arms and base for their revolution against the Burmese military regime. They were then arrested on Landfall Island in Andaman and the Nicobar Archipelago in Indian maritime territory on February 11, 1998 by the Indian navy and army.
Kim said that similar demonstrations for the 34 (Arakan) Rakhine and Karen would be staged in Britain, the United States and Bangladesh simultaneously.
Dr. Tint Swe, a minister in the National Coalition Government of Union of Burma (NCGUB) has sent a memorandum to Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, calling for their release and granting them residential status in India, and for UN to recognize them as refugees.
A leading human rights lawyer in India, Nandita Haksar, has written a book on the case titled ‘Rogue Agent’, published by Penguin. It has just been released in a Burmese edition, which can be ordered through Mizzima.
