Human Rights Violations In South Asian Countries

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRIES. Om Prakash Yadav

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The south Asia has suddenly turned into war zones and condition of human rights has been gradually deteriorating. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tibet etc are passing through tough weather with respect to human rights violations. The developments in these countries are posing and exerting enormous social stress on political fabric. The deteriorating situations in the neighbouring countries are bound to affect India from so many angles and in so many dimensions. PAKISTAN- Taliban and Pakistan Army’s clash in Swat, Buner, Mingora, shagala and Dir has worsened the conditions. The UNHCR, the international aid agency, has reported that about 7 lakh population have so far taken shelter in the relief camps. Hundreds of thousands refugees are on exodus from the strife torn areas. The fighting has intensified after Zardari’s return from America. He has been rebuffed in Washington for his government’s lackesaidial attitude towards the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The Pakistani President had to give assurance to the US administration that his government would leave no stone unturned to see that Taliban is repulsed and areas are cleared of Taliban. With the Gilani’s unambiguous order to the army that Taliban be killed and areas be cleared, the fighting has intensified. The regular shelling by Air force helicopters on civilian areas has increased the causalities to large numbers. The Taliban on the other hand has also enhanced its offensive. The common citizens are grinding amidst these fighting. The exodus from the strife torn area is increasing alarmingly and the authorities are not able to cope up with this huge problem. Reports suggest that this is perhaps the biggest ever exodus and the number of internal displaced persons (IDP) is higher than that of the 1947 and 1971 partition. The scenes of exodus by trucks, cars, horse cart, bullock cart, donkey and foot reminds the horrifying memories of infamous Indo-Pak partition of 1947. Swat, the epicentre of fighting, has turned into a ghost town where dead bodies are decaying and rotten corpses are being dinned by scavengers making the humanity to weep. The relief camps lack basic amenities and even proper medical and sanitation facilities are not available. People are dying for want of food and proper medical attention. The conditions of old, children and women are much more pitiable. The aerial bombing by the Pakistani army without prior evacuation has inflicted untold miseries on the poor civilians. They are angrier against the army than the Taliban itself. The imposition of indefinite curfew in Mingora, Swat, Dir and many areas of Malakhand division has been preventing

people from fleeing from such areas. They are thus made to die and suffer. There is huge shortage and scarcity of ration and people would start dying within a couple of weeks from now if the situation is not improved and supply line is not restored in the war and strife torn areas.

The conditions in the relief camps are pathetic and horrifying. Even the officials of UNHCR are very much concerned about the human tide and massive influx of the refugees coming to the camps. High commissioner of UNHCR Antonio Guterres after visiting one Yar Hussain Camp, said the refugees in Pakistan need massive international humanitarian aid, otherwise, he said, there shall be huge loss of life. The unprecedented humanitarian tragedy is looming large over these areas. The Talban has destroyed everything in the affected areas, school, hospital, bridges, houses, roads, drinking water pipes etc leading to untold sufferings of masses. The common people are suffering both at the hands of terrorists and army. There are large scale human rights violations. The condition of women and girls are particularly bad. Public flogging, stoning to death, whipping in public, shooting down by firing squads, beheading etc are the common place in many areas in Pakistan which reminds the horrible scenes of medieval times. The war ravaged country is moving towards a catastrophe where the public are large are subjected to all sorts of humiliation and torture. AFGHANISTAN-The human right condition in this war ravaged country is far from satisfaction. 9/11 terrorists attack on USA was a land mark in the history of terrorism in the world. The USA attacked Afghanistan and threw Taliban. Hamid Karzai, a western educated Pashtu was be-seated at Kabul to run the government. America led NATO forces in Afghanistan is still fighting a seemingly unending war. The killing of hundreds of NATO forces and hundreds of thousands of civilians in this country has also not led to improvement in the situation. The number of causalities, both military and civilian is increasing by leaps and bounds. Pentagon reports that death of staff Sgt. Matthew D. Blaskowski was the 500th death of American troops since ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ began on 7th October, 2001. According to New York Times, 510 have occurred in Afghanistan or are directly linked to the war there. The number of deaths of civilians both in Military operations and suicidal attacks including those by the Talban is unknown and unconfirmed. Even the Presidential Palace in fortified Kabul is not safe. Present Obama has also candidly accepted that US is not going to win the war. The human rights violation by Taliban in Afghanistan is not News because it is so frequent and rabid that it horrifies human psyche. The public flogging and beheading by long bearded Taliban local commanders sometimes make us feel as if we are watching some films of horror. But unfortunately there are reports of serious human rights violation by the NATO and American

forces. The Bagramair base, some 60 Kilometres away north of Kabul has been converted into a detention centre where large number of prisoners and suspect Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorists are kept. Reports coming to the public domain suggest that alleged suspects are kept here as détentes from as far as South-East Asia and Central Africa. Although it has not gained as notoriety as Guantanamo, it has been converted into torture centre. Event one of the Federal Judges has castigated this centre. The weak and fragile government running on the money and material support of international community lacks zeal, courage, infrastructure and logistics to come up to the expectations of the common people. The un institutionalised bureaucracy is corrupt to the core and even CIA candidly accepts that about half of the supply to Afghanistan is either plundered by the Talban or Afghan machinery. Surprisingly the Karzai government too promulgated a new ‘Personal Status Law’ which applies only to Shia women. Under the provisions no women is allowed to work, leave her house or receive education without permission from her husband, no wife can refuse sex with her husband. In nut shell women would be subjected to domestic servitude. The provisions were so harsh that in a country like Afghanistan, women staged demonstration against it. The outcry was such that even Obama criticised it as abhorrent. Taliban has vowed to finish off, what they call western civilisation and western mode of life in Islamic countries including Afghanistan. The country is on the verge of extinction; everything seems to have finished except the zeal of common Afghans. The human rights condition in this tattered, pulverised and obliterated country is not now making headlines of western media unfortunately. The geographic and strategic location of Afghanistan is such that these developments are bound to have repercussion on India. The socio-cultural, historical and civilisation knot of Afghanistan with India is so intertwined that we feel sorry for what is happening and what is about to happen here. Moreover, the human rights violations in our neighbours do have impact of ours. SRILANKA- 26 years of fighting for a separate Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka is hopefully coming to an end. Prabhakaran is dead now which probably means end of armed struggle of Tamils for a separate home land. Mahinda Rajapaksha is in jubilant mood and seen kissing the land after his return from Jordan. This may be end of fighting of war but not the end of Tamil problems. The guerrilla war may begin after few years of calm if the situation is not handled carefully. The Tamil Tigers, the L.T.T.E. (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) has been fighting with the Sri Lankan government and army one of the fiercest war of the world. The exact number of deaths in this longest war is not known. The recent government forces’ offensive against the Tigers made the human conditions in this strife torn island from bad to worse. Hundreds of thousands of civilians had to flee from the war zones. The United Nations say 7000 civilians were killed and 16,700 were wounded in the fighting

from January, 20 to May, 7 2009 only. According to one source about 70000 people have died in the last 26 years of fighting. The shelling by Sri Lankan air force in the areas like North-East Mulliativu, Kilnochi, Chavkachacheri, and areas in Jaffna has taken heavy tolls of both civilians and Tamil Tigers. According to an estimate, about 3700 army and 1500 LTTE men have died here in this phase of war itself. Mullaitivuwas under the control of LTTE since 1996 itself and had been developed as fortress by the Tigers. This was a strategic town because it was vital for supply lines. It was also captured by the army on 25 January this year. Kilinochchi was also captured by the army and the civilians fled this area for an apprehended fighting. The whole town was converted into a ghost town. The Tigers, in a last desperate attempt to thwart government forces’ onslaught erected Human shield in which many lives were lost. In a blatant violation of human rights the government forces reportedly bombarded hospitals also killing hundreds of patients. The scenes appearing on TV channels, internet and other media are pathetic. The satellite pictures showing hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing the war zones, some of them trapped in trenches. It is an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Well it is true that Terrorism, insurgency, war and fighting cannot go side by side with human rights. But at the same time no civil society can afford to ignore and shut eyes from such dastardly acts of Human rights violations. The UN aid agencies and Red Cross Society have also condemned the blatant violations. The hundreds of thousands of Tamil refugees are on exodus into Indian territories especially in Tamil Nadu exerting tremendous pressure on social and political fabric. UNICEF officials say that initially the number of IDPs were 65,000 but gradually it has swelled up to 2, 50,000 which may increase more. The relief camps are flooded with displaced persons and there is huge shortage of food, drinking water, medicine, and other medical facilities. If massive international help and aid do not reach to this country, the death of large number of people may take place. The humanitarian tragedies do not recognise geographical boundaries and pains of human sufferings cannot remain confine to an ethnic group only. The pains emanating from one part of the world do reach out to other parts and create emotional ripples and political stress. The situation must change and every nation, big or small, powerful or weak, democratic or authoritarian alike must strive to make the world a better place to live. MYANMAR- Myanmar is also passing through a period of intense humanitarian crisis. The democratically elected leader, Auang San Suu Kyi, of National League For Democracy (NLFD) is still languishing in Jail. The land slide victory of Suu Kyi in 1990 general election in which her party secured more than 82% of the Parliament seats was thwarted by the military Junta. She was denied the power and was put to house arrest. She had already elapsed 13 out of 19 years either in Jails or under house detention.

In an utter disrespect to international community, the Military Junta has not yet started democratic political process. The civilians in this secluded country are denied even the basic political and democratic rights. The world leaders like Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Margret Thatcher, Leach Walesa, Ban ki-moon etc have demanded unconditional release of Ms Suu Kyi but it too went unheeded. The most terrible storm which struck southern Myanmar in May 2008 took toll of more than 1 Lakh people. It was perhaps the worst humanitarian crisis this country ever faced. The world community tried to extend helping hand to the Burmese people but the Military Junta denied the access to the International Aid agencies. Millions of people died due to utter negligence of the men in power. The pathetic scenes which came through internet and other media clandestinely, stirred the human emotions across the world. The iron curtained Nation is virtually secluded from the world and virtually no news come from here without government’s censor. Recent episode in which Suu Kyi has been put to trial is also deploring and ridiculous. Reportedly one American swimmer John Yettaw secretly swam across a lake to meet Suu Kyi few days back. The authority terming it as an offence, as what they call was a violation of the conditions of house arrest, arrests Suu Kyi and had put her to trial. In fact the term of Ms Kyi’s house arrest was to expire in the next month and undoubtedly the Junta does not want to release Suu Kyi; therefore they sought a frivolous ground to keep Ms Kyi under arrest for another indefinite period of time. If this charge is proved, she may be awarded 3-5 years imprisonment. TIBETThe kind of pro-democratic movement erupted spontaneously and abruptly in Tibet just before Beijing Olympic is testimony of the fact that Tibet is sitting over stockpiles of explosives which may detonate anytime and any moment. The Chinese authorities subsequently unleashed a reign to terror against the movement in which hundreds of precious lives were lost. The international appeal to China went unheeded and the authorities went on violating human rights on a massive scale. Tibet’s religious leader Dalai Lama is in exile and has been living in India since 1959. On 19th April, 1959 Dalai Lama established the Tibetan exile administration in the north India hill station of Mussoorie and named it Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) it was moved to Dharamsala in 1960. The fight to make Tibet independent still goes on with hundreds of thousands of Tibetan refugees living and struggling for their democratic cause. Their presence in Indian soil makes China hostile to India and normalisation of the Indo-Chinese relation is still a distant dream. The human rights condition in Tibet is far from satisfaction and the international community including India is losing all hopes in this regard. NEPAL- The tiny nascent democratic Nepal is all set to witness another upheaval in near future as the newly formed government under Pushapa Kamal Dahal Prachanda fell over integration of PLA into Nepal Army issue.

The Constitution has not yet been written and ratified by the Constituent Assembly. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the CPA is running into rough weather and the possibility of Maoists starting again a Jan Andolan, the guerrilla war warfare, cannot be ruled out. That period had witnessed massive bloodshed and human rights violations by both government and Maoists on massive scale therefore any derailment of peace process may lead to arise of similar situations. This would terribly affect our security environment across borders. A new government is set to take over in Nepal under Madhav Nepal without the support of Maoists; therefore the fragile peace in this Himalayan country is likely to run into bad weather conditions. If it happens, another period of hostilities and human rights violation would begin. The social fabric of Nepal is such that many of its threads are spread into Indian society, therefore development of such situation would mar the peace in Indian Territory also, a situation India cannot afford to have at this juncture. To sum up the whole issue, the socio-political and human rights milieu in our neighbouring countries are dismal and far from normal. In the globalised economy and liberalised society, no country big or small, weak or strong, developed or underdeveloped can remain isolated from what is going on or likely or happen around and across its borders. There is urgent need on the part of the new government to address to these problems and play its vital role of a vibrant and resilient democracy as well as emerging global economic power. We cannot afford to adopt recalcitrant attitude towards such situation in the name of non interference into others domestic affairs.