Burmese government in exile as witness in the 34 rebels’ case

by Mungpi
Thursday, 12 November 2009 20:25

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Representatives of the Burmese government in exile, the National Coalition Government of Union of Burma (NCGUB) on Thursday said his organization is witness to the freedom struggle of the 34 Burmese rebels, who are currently facing trial in Kolkata’s City Sessions court.

Dr. Tint Swe, a New Delhi based minister for NCGUB, testifying in court on Thursday said he had known the 34 Arakan and Karen ethnics, who are currently lodged in Kolkata’s Presidency jail, as freedom fighters against the Burmese military regime.

“I believe that the Indian justice system would not fail to look into the case against the 34 people and decide justly. I am optimistic that they would get justice and be freed,” Dr. Tint Swe told Mizzima.

Dr. Tint Swe is one among the three defence witnesses, who testified in the court on Thursday in the trial against the 34 Burmese rebels, who are charged with possessing arms and ammunition and explosive substances, and illegal entry into India under the Foreigners Act.

The rebels belonging to armed resistance groups – National Unity Party of Arakan and Karen National Union, fighting against the Burmese military regime, were arrested in February 1998 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands during a joint Indian military exercise codenamed ‘Operation Leech’.

Days after the arrest, the Indian defence establishment announced that a huge cache of arms and ammunitions along with explosive substances were seized from the rebels.

But the rebels, in their statement to the court in September, said they were framed and were being double crossed by Indian Intelligence at the behest of the Burmese military junta.

The rebels claim that they had a deal with the Indian Intelligence, to allow them a base in Landfall Island of the Andaman and Nicobar, in exchange for providing intelligence on Chinese naval activities on the Andaman Sea.

They also claimed that the deal was broken by Indian intelligence officials, who cold-bloodedly killed six of their leaders, a day after they arrived on the Landfall Island.

“Prime Minister of NCGUB Dr Sein Win has also sent a letter to me, to bear witness of the 34 people as freedom fighters. I submitted the letter to the court today,” Dr. Tint Swe said.

One of the defence lawyers said, an official of the West Bengal Sports Department also testified in court saying his department in support of the 34 Burmese in jail organized a football match in Kolkata in 2008 with the Solidarity Committee for Burma’s Freedom Fighters, a committee headed by Dr (Col) Lakshmi Sahgal.

Siddarth Aggarwal, one of the defence lawyers, told Mizzima, “The testimony of the West Bengal government official means that the 34 Burmese are not criminals but are freedom fighters, which is why the West Bengal government deems fit to be associated with.”

Another witness on Thursday was a leader of Burma’s ethnic nationalities, Harn Yanghwe, who is also director at the Euro-Burma Office (EBO) in Brussels.

Yanghwe said, he testified that he has connections with the 34 Burmese mother organizations – NUPA and KNU – and his organization, EBO, has been providing financial assistance to them for their legal expenses.

“I know the 34 Burmese through my association with the Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC) as well as through the EBO,” Yanghwe said. The ENC is an umbrella organization representing ethnic nationalities of Burma.

On Wednesday, a prominent human rights lawyer Nandita Haksar, presented her testimony to the court defending the 34 Burmese rebels, saying she had taken up their case and visited them at Port Blair in Andaman.

Haksar, on whose petition the Supreme Court of India ordered the transfer of the 34 Burmese to Kolkata to conduct a day to day trial in October 2006, said she had taken up the case in 1999 and had gone to Andaman Islands at that time.

She told the court that she felt angry that no charge sheet had been filed by the Central Bureau of Intelligence (CBI) for six years. And the charge sheet was filed only after she filed a writ petition as a petitioner in person.

Despite of being in detention for over 12 years, Haksar said she is now optimistic that the 34 Burmese could finally have justice, as the prosecution has not been able to provide sufficient evidence to the charges.

Besides, Haksar said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UHNCR) in New Delhi has accepted their application for refugee status and issued them ‘under consideration’ certificates.

Though the spokesperson for the UNHCR in New Delhi refused to confirm or deny it, Haksar said, it is a sign of hope for the 34 Burmese, who had spent nearly a decade in jail without any charges being filed against them.

Aggarwal, one the defence attorneys, told Mizzima on Thursday that the court has completed the hearing of defence witnesses and has fixed December 15 for the prosecution to submit its arguments.

“I think if the prosecution argument is in December, the defence arguments could be somewhere in January,” said Aggarwal, adding that the court will give its verdict after both sides present their arguments.

While the case might seem to be a court trial of a few Burmese individuals, Dr. Tint Swe said, it represents the Burmese democracy movement as a whole as “they [34 Burmese] are part of the Burmese struggle for freedom in the larger context.”