AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA

To

The Honble Chief Justice of India
Supreme Court of India
Tilak Marg
New Delhi, 110002

December 30, 2004

Re: Illegal arrest and detention of Burmese freedom fighters in Port Blair since February 1998.

Dear Mr. Chief Justice,

We, the undersigned, are Burmese freedom fighters living in different parts of the world. We have been living in exile since 1988 ever since the brutal army coup took over our country. We continue living exile as the military regime did not allow the free and fairly elected political party of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (NLD) to convene the parliament.

We, the freedom loving peoples of Burma, have always look upon India for support for our movement for restoration of democracy and human rights. As the worlds largest democracy we expect that India will stand by our people in this dark hour when the military regime has crushed the pro-democracy movement and been violating all forms of human rights.

We were glad that India bestowed its most prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding on our leader and India has welcomed many Burmese exiles. But we are deeply disturbed by the fact that no one in India seems to be concerned about the pain and injustice suffered by Burmese freedom fighters who have been incarcerated in Port Blair for nearly seven years for no fault of theirs.

We are writing to you to bring to your attention the plight of 34 Burmese freedom fighters who have been illegally imprisoned in Port Blair since 1998. In the infamous Operation Leach, the corrupt Indian Military Intelligence officer, Col. V J S Grewal (a) Myo Myint arranged a fake encounter by killing six Burmese freedom fighters and having others put in jail. Col. Grewal is enjoying the hospitality of Burmese authorities in return for the murder of the anti-military freedom fighters.

These 36 men have been languishing in the jail for more than six years and the courts are neither trying them nor are they being allowed to go to Delhi to seek the protection of the UNHCR. Till this day the chargesheet has not been filed.

A local lawyer who was appearing for the Burmese in Port Blair was murdered and we believe it was done by the help of Myanmar intelligence officers. Now there is a petition pending before the Supreme Court and we are appealing to you to ensure that that these young men get justice.

These men present no threat to Indias security and in fact they were helping the Indian intelligence agencies for her security interest. All these years we have been silent because we did not wish to embarrass the Indian government and we hoped they would get justice. We are sorely disappointed that no serious action has been taken against Col. Grewal for murdering six freedom fighters or for putting false charges on the 36 men.

It is historic fact that the Burmese people always gave shelter to the Indian freedom fighters in their fight against British rule. We hope you will ensure justice is done to our people. We believe there is a petition pending before your Honble Court and we are writing to you to request you to take personal interest in ensuring our people are not denied justice.

With our sincere best wishes for the New Year!