India draws flak over trial of Myanmar rebels Reuters / October 10, 2007
India will resume in November the closed-door trial of 34 Myanmarese rebels accused of smuggling weapons in a case that critics say has shed light on the government's close relationship with the junta.
The 34 prisoners, who belong to Myanmar's ethnic Arakan minority, were caught in Indian waters and brought to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in February 1998 by Indian security forces.
Nine years later, an Indian court finally charged them with possession of arms in Indian territory without licences, which carry a maximum penalty of life in jail, their lawyers said. Terrorism charges were later dropped.
The media and public have been barred from watching the trial, following a petition by the prosecution.
"We are still hopeful of securing their release as the prosecution has failed to prove anything. The rebels, some in their teens, yearn to be back and fight for their homeland," said Akshay Sharma, the defendants' lawyer. He says that some of the prisoners were children when captured.
The defendants have said they were betrayed by an Indian army official, who was paid by the Myanmar junta to help crush the Arakani rebellion, an account dismissed by India's defence ministry.
A defence ministry spokesman in Kolkata said the rebels were caught inside Indian waters and werecarrying explosives. The Central Bureau of Investigation, the prosecuting agency, said they were gun-runners but refused to comment further as the case had reached a "sensitive stage".
The prisoners say guards and inmates have beaten them during their incarceration.
STRATEGIC INTEREST
Repeated pleas to the government for their release have failed, said B.B. Nandi, a retired official of India's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
Nandi, who was once in charge of RAW operations concerning Myanmar, is now helping activists secure the prisoners' freedom.
"There is nothing in the case and their arrest came as a shock as I knew these people were not India's enemies," he told Reuters. "India is going out of the way to get them punished, which also highlights its strategic interest in Myanmar and the junta."
India has come under sharp criticism for its guarded response to the recent crackdown on peaceful protesters by the junta in Myanmar.
India is interested in Myanmar's huge oil and gas reserves. It wants to build better road links with Myanmar to boost trade and counter China's increasing interest in the region. India's army helps train the junta's soldiers.
"India favours the powerful junta to serve its strategic interest and there seems to be no time for sympathy for the jailed rebels," said Kalim Bahadur, a South Asian affairs expert.
The imprisoned rebels, meanwhile, have gone on fast several times in Kolkata's Presidency jail, calling for a speedy trial and better treatment. They deny smuggling weapons to separatist rebels in India.
