Mizzima: Burma students body appeal

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Burma Students' body appeals support from India

New Delhi, June 24, 2000
Mizzima News Group (http://www.mizzima.com)

A broader solidarity movement towards Burma's democratic movement should
now emerge in India in wider scale and the international community
should raise its unanimous voice in support of democracy in Burma, said
Mr. D. Raja, a leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI). He was
speaking at a closing and swearing in ceremony of the newly elected
Central Committee of India-based All Burma Students League. About a
hundred Burma activists, their supporters from India and Nepal attended
the function, which was held at the Indian Women Press Corps' in New
Delhi this morning.

"The Communist Party of India reiterates its support to the democratic
movement in Burma and we demand that the international community should
come forward in urging the military junta to allow the free movement of
Aung San Suu Kyi", said Mr. D. Raja. "She should be allowed to move
around, to interact with other people and to carry out the political
activities according to her wishes. This is our minimum demand to the
junta", said Mr. D. Raja.

The All Burma Students League, a radical exiled Burma political
organization,
which has offices in countries such as India, Thailand, Australia and
the United States,
has been holding its general conferences in every two
years. The Fourth General Conference which was held from June 17 to 19
in New Delhi elected new office bearers and a Central Committee
comprising eleven members to implement the activities of the
organization for the year 2000-2002.

Speaking at the function, Mr. Kyaw Than, newly elected president of the
All Burma Students League thanked the supporters from India who have
been helping Burma pro-democracy activists in India with moral,
political and material support during the past twelve years.

"However, I would like to express my disappointment over the present
policy of India towards Burma?As the largest democracy in the world,
India has a special duty to support democracy in other countries,
particularly in its neighbors", said Mr. Kyaw Than in his presidential
address.

He also pointed out that Indian government and Indian trade union
(Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh) voted against the recent ILO's Burma resolution
that demanded the ruling military junta comply with international labor
standards to put an end to forced labor in the country, failing which it
will face punitive actions of the world community.

Appealing solidarity and support from the people of India, Mr. Kyaw than
said that the people who love peace and democracy have a moral duty to
support a struggle of other people who are fighting against
dictatorship, which undermines the human dignity".

The three-hour function was attended by leaders and representatives of
Burma pro-democracy groups and ethnic nationality organizations, which
have been fighting against the military junta in Burma. Extending
solidarity from his party of Nepali Congress towards democracy movement
in Burma, Mr. Nabin Pudasaini said that "the people of Nepal are with
the Burma pro-democracy activists and are always for the restoration of
democracy and human rights in Burma".

In its statement issued today, the All Burma Students League said that
only a political dialogue between the ruling military junta and the
Committee Representing People's Parliament (CRPP) could break the
political deadlock that exists in Burma today. The CRPP was formed in
August 1998 with ten representatives from six political parties that had
won the 1990 elections to represent the elected Members of Parliament in
Burma. The National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Nobel Peace
Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won 392 of 485 parliamentary seats in the
elections but the junta continues to ignore the result.

The All Burma Students League also condemned recent military take-overs
in Pakistan, Fiji and the Solomon Islands as threats to freedom and
fundamental rights not only of the citizens of respective countries but
also of the world community.