Wednesday

Burma, China and Sri Lanka – The lessons

If you are wondering whats so common between these three Asian nations – well firstly, the religion Buddhism binds the heritage of these three nations. Secondly -all the three nations have been facing internal resistance and have used force to contain them for the past fifty plus years.  Its an irony that the religion of peace, has not imparted peace in the minds of its followers in these nations. While Dalai Lama – in the name of Buddhism, is fighting for the freedom of Tibet from China through peaceful methods, Burma has been using violence to quell internal disturbances and Sri Lanka is using excessive violence to quell the Tamil resistance. 

Burma:

Burma’s Junta recently extended the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, 61 for another year, defying overwhelming international appeals. Suu Kyi, has spent more than 11 of the past 17 years of life in detention.

The Junta took power in 1988 after crushing pro-democracy demonstrations in Burma. It refused to hand over power when, on May 27, 1990, Suu Kyi’s Burma’s National League for Democracy party won a general election by a landslide.

Suu Kyi won the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. In 1992 she was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru peace prize by the Government of India for her peaceful and non-violent struggle against the military dictatorship. According to the results of the 1990 general election, Suu Kyi as leader of the winning National League for Democracy party earned the right to be the Prime Minister, but her detention by the military Junta prevented just that.The United Nations, the European Union and the U.S. government have been repeatedly calling for the release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, as well as for moves toward democracy in Burma.

China – Tibet:

Chinese soldiers and Paramilitary encircled cities and villages in Tibet early this year, on the tip-off about possible unrest on the 50th anniversary of the failed uprising against Chinese rule.

Half a century ago Dalai Lama – the Tibetan spiritual leader fled Tibet after a failed uprising against the Chinese and has been living in Dharamsala, India – the Himalayan hill town that is the seat of the so called Tibetan government-in-exile. Tibetans outside of China and their supporters held rallies around the world recently to mark the 50th anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising.

Meanwhile Dalai Lama acknowledged the “failure” of his policy of talks with Beijing which yielded no results. “Our approach never affects the inside situation. Things are not going well.” he told reporters.

Dalai Lama - The spiritual and political leader for the people of Tibet has been talking about the “cultural genocide” by the Chinese, has been warning that Tibet’s “ancient culture and ancient civilization are now dying.” and painfully confesses that “for the short term, the Tibet issue is hopeless.”

There is a suspicion among foreign analysts of Chinese policy toward Tibet that Beijing has no intention of seriously seeking a solution to the problem and is planning simply to wait for the death of Dalai Lama. His successor, after all, would enjoy none of the international kudos, domestic devotion, or diplomatic experience that gives Dalai Lama his political strength.

Since the last round of talks between top Chinese officials and delegates of Dalai Lama that took place through the year 2002 there appears an impasse. The Chinese side has repeatedly refused the Tibetans’ demands to discuss the outlines of  Tibetan autonomy,calling it a “covert independence” and a violation of Chinese sovereignty.

Sri Lanka – Tamil Eelam:

Tamils – the speakers of an ancient classical language, who have a heritage of rich literature dating back as much as 5000 years old are the native inhabitants of Southern India and North East of Sri Lanka in the present day boundaries of this region. Their struggle for self determination and the establishment of a free state “Tamil Eelam” has been countered by successive heads of the Sri Lankan state. Both peace-full resistance under the leadership of S.J.V.Chelvanayagam and armed resistance under the leadership of V. Pirabakaran have met violent opposition by the Sri Lankan government. 

The plight of the high civilian causalities during the recent offensive and the regular disappearances of internally displaced people from the Intermittent camps remind us of the Nazi days. The “Never Again” slogan seem to have been lost in the rumbles of the “war on terror”. Leaked UN figures state that more than 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed and several thousand injured by the Sri Lankan Army just in the last few days of the war. Several International analysts who have focused on past genocides of the world have warned that the Tamils of Sri Lanka are facing “slow genocide” at the hands of Sri Lankan armed forces and the Sri Lankan government. While the human cost of the Sri Lankan civil war has been extremely high, world leaders were still of the opinion that the Tamils struggle was legitimate, but their use of violence is unacceptable. The casualties of this war has largely been ignored or hidden by world bodies such as UN to avoid the embarrassment of the exposure of the “uncivilized” world. 

Non-violence and Armed struggle

I am wondering, if the world leaders and world bodies seek an end to all armed struggles across the world, do they think that the world is ready to heed to peaceful protests. If so why has there not been any progress or hope for the freedom of Tibetans. Why has there not been any success with the Aung San Suu Kyi’s strugle to bring democracy to Burma?.

Even after 50 years and 17years of struggle Dalai Lama and Aung San Suu Kyi are yet to see any meaningful progress, leave alone a permanent solution. The International Community have been occasionally releasing statements in favor of these two rebel leaders, but carry on their diplomatic missions and trade agreements with China and Burma. The UN has always remained the extended arm of the Security Council members and has done nothing for these two peaceful struggles. 

It makes me conclude that the International Community and the UN are nothing more than empty words. Until they are able to bring a positive outcome to the peaceful struggles in these Asian nations or across the globe, they will not earn the respect of anybody and cannot gain any legitimacy in dictating the means and ways of somebodies struggles towards equality and dignity. Until then, the power to end the miseries of Burma, Tibet & Tamil Eelam rests in the hands of it own people.