Indian activists to brainstorm Burmese junta’s intentions

Friday, 29 January 2010 00:18 Mithu Choudhury

Guwahati (Mizzima) - Activists and journalists in Northeast India are preparing to hold a symposium on the planned elections in Burma scheduled for later this year.

Burma Center Delhi, a group comprising Burmese and Indian activists, along with journalists from Forum of Assam, are to hold a consultation meeting to discuss probable implications stemming from the general election in Burma.

Though the Burmese junta has announced it will hold a general election this year as part of its seven-point roadmap to democracy, it is yet to announce a date, leaving observers and critics to speculate that the junta wants to give minimum preparation time to opposition candidates.

The symposium will be held on January 30th at the Press Club of Guwahati, capital of India’s Northeastern state of Assam. Burmese activists including Members of Parliament elect from the exile-based National Coalition Government of Union of Burma (NCGUB) will join the discussion.

The constitutional referendum held in May 2008 as part of the junta’s seven-step roadmap to democracy was widely ridiculed as a sham by critics after a reported 90 percent of voters registered in favor of the document.

M. Kim, a Burmese among the prospective discussants said “a referendum or election without basic civil rights and political freedom is unfair.”

“It is unrecognizable unless political parties are allowed to freely exercise [their rights], political prisoners are released and there is a cessation of systematic human rights abuses and criminal hostilities against ethnic groups,” he put forth.

As the junta has yet to announce an electoral law, many political parties are discouraged from participating, claiming they will face an unfair time constraint.

With the junta apparently turning a deaf ear to such pleas, critics speculate it plans to use the election to legitimize their role and cement their rule.

As such, activists and journalists in Northeast India are forced to think of the probable implications that the junta’s election could have for them and India.

Organizers said the theme of the consultation meeting is to better understand the junta’s constitution and election, to strengthen people to people relationships and create space for generating dialogue and action amongst concerned peoples of the region.

Editing by Mungpi