The petition
There was a horrific case at Landfall Island in the Andaman and Nicobar atoll of India on 11 February 1998. It includes killing of the six innocent Burmese national leaders (Arakanese and Karen nationals from Burma) and illegal detention of their 34 followers by the Indian government. They belong to the National United Party of Arakan (NUPA) and Karen National Union (KNU), ethnic nationalities organizations from Burma that have been fighting against the military regime for decades for self-determination and human rights. Those Arakanese and Karen leaders were killed by a joint operation of the three wings of the Indian armed forces code-named “Operation Leech-111”. They are as follow.
(1) Khaing Raza (NUPA)
(2) Saw Tun (NUPA)
(3) Ran Naing (NUPA)
(4) Lin Zin Khaing (NUPA)
(5) Pado Mulway (KNU)
(6) Myint Shwe (KNU)
India was an ally in their struggle in the mid-1980s during Rajiv Gandhi’s government, India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) made contact with the Arakanese groups at that time. They were permitted to establish their headquarters at Prava in Mizoram in 1995. Since that time, they have aided the Indian government by providing them very important information relating to India’s security. However, one particular Indian military intelligence officer, Colonel Grewal, was found to have betrayed their trust at the behest of the military junta and to have killed six of their leaders in cold blood.
Their fellow freedom fighters (23 NUPA members and 11 KNU members) were kept under illegal detention for over 8 years at Campbell Camp on Nicobar Island and in horrific conditions and then transferred to the prison at Port Blair. Their names are –
(1) Mr. Soe Naing (NUPA)
(2) Mr. Thein Kyan Aung (NUPA)
(3) Mr. Dnyalum (NUPA)
(4) Mr. Thein Oung Gyaw (NUPA)
(5) Mr. Khin Maung Kyi (NUPA)
(6) Mr. Soe Soe (NUPA)
(7) Mr. Chan Du (NUPA)
(8) Mr. Zaw Lin (NUPA)
(9) Mr. Aung Naing Win (NUPA)
(10) Mr. Khaing Shwe Lin (NUPA)
(11) Mr. Tun Yin (NUPA)
(12) Mr. Moe Min Tun (NUPA)
(13) Mr. Min Tha Tun (NUPA)
(14) Mr. Aung Zar Min (NUPA)
(15) Mr. Hay Li (NUPA)
(16) Mr. Ray Htak (NUPA)
(17) Mr. Myo Mrat (NUPA)
(18) Mr. Maung Nyo Sein (NUPA)
(19) Mr. Khaing Hla (NUPA)
(20) Mr. Khaing Tha Mra (NUPA)
(21) Mr. Khaing San Thein (NUPA)
(22) Mr. Maung Khin Aye. (NUPA)
(23) Mr. Lu Lu (NUPA)
(24) Mr. Khaing Soe Lin (NUPA)
(25) Mr. Pho Cho (KNU)
(26) Mr. Saw Bo (KNU)
(27) Mr. Da Aye (KNU)
(28) Mr. Kak Htit (KNU)
(29) Mr. Shwe La (KNU)
(30) Mr. Sa To To (KNU)
(31) Mr. Yar Aye Thah (KNU)
(32) Mr. Maung Naing (KNU)
(33) Mr. Cham Chit (KNU)
(34) Mr. San Lwin (KNU)
They had no permission to go to any place for their relief from exposure to the weather and the ration worth of Rs. 45 (US$ 1) per day each person as subsistence allowance was given in every ten days. It could not cover their basic needs with the rising prices.
The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) failed to file a charge sheet because the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was not co-operative with them. The CBI interfered them when they tried to approach the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for assistance. With the efforts by the UNHCR, human rights activist like T Vasanda, daughter of The editor of Andamans Today, who died under suspicious circumstances, the Delhi-based South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, the Calcutta-based Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), Arakanese communities around the world, any other Burmese and ethnic groups and individuals, the case was finally transferred in October 2006 to a Sessions Court in Calcutta, and the freedom fighters were put in the Presidency Jail. The case is now before City Sessions Judge Ashim Kumar Roy.
Present Situation
Not long after the transfer, the CBI sought to arrange for the trial to be held within prison. The authorities of the Presidency Jail have been denying access to them, and it seems that the intelligence agencies have a hand in this. The freedom fighters are in a particularly vulnerable position as they are foreigners in the country in which they are being held and tried, and most of them do not speak English, the language of the court. Many of them are also villagers who became freedom fighters not through learned ideology but due to the oppressive military rule they suffered.
On 18 December 2006, the intelligence agencies in collusion with the jail authorities are believed to have instigated a clash between them and the convicts inside the jail. The unsuspecting they were attacked and some of them were very badly injured. After the skirmish, one of their leaders, Danyalin, was put in solitary confinement. He was attacked there as well. All in all, the detainees’ situation is dire. Nandita Haksar, the Delhi lawyer, has taken up the case, and a fair trial is the only hope. If they are repatriated to Burma (Myanmar), they will be shot.
Therefore, we strongly urge the Indian government to release all the freedom fighters of Burma and to seek their refuge from repatriation to Burma.
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