Manipur protests continue

IMPHAL,Feb 26 – Protest rallies and widespread sit-in demonstration at various locations continues as part of intensifying public protest against the brutal killing of Manipur government officer and his two subordinates here on Thursday. Close on the heels of a massive protest rally in Ukhrul town, 80 km north of the state capital on Wednesday, students and teachers community of the Manipur University staged a silent rally on Thursday protesting the killing of Dr Thingnam Kishan, SDO Kasom Khullen,Ukhrul district.

SDO Dr Kishan, his driver A Rajen and mandal Y Token were found killed near Taphou Kuki village, 6 km south of Senapati district police headquarters on February 17 after they were reportedly abducted along with three others from Ukhrul district five days ago.

Though proscribed NSCN (I-M) which has been engaged in a ceasefire agreement with Govt of India since 1997 had denied their involvement in the killing at one point of time, the outfit now has admitted that one of their leaders was the mastermind behind the killing.

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Curfew relaxed in Imphal dists

IMPHAL, Feb 26 – Indefinite curfew, imposed since February 19 in Imphal East and Imphal West districts of Manipur after the killing of a subdivisional officer and his two staff members by Naga militants, was today relaxed for 12 hours from 6 am, reports PTI.

Official sources said curfew was relaxed to restore normal life in Imphal and Greater Imphal areas covering the two districts.

The curfew would be lifted in the next few days if there was no violence or agitation over the killing of the SDO, Th Kishan of Kasom Khullen subdivision in Ukhrul district and his two staff members, the sources said.

Educational institutions, government offices and banks functioned normally in the two districts during relaxation of the curfew.

Source: Assam Tribune

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'Brutal' Myanmar rights record criticized

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WASHINGTON, February 26 (AFP): The United States lashed out at the Myanmar regime's human rights record Wednesday, saying the military was "brutally" suppressing its citizens and razing entire villages. In an annual global report on human rights, the State Department said Myanmar's ruling junta carried out numerous extrajudicial killings along with rape and torture without punishing anyone responsible.

"The regime brutally suppressed dissent," it said, faulting the junta for "denying citizens the right to change their government and committing other severe human rights abuses." Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, crushed a 2007 uprising led by Buddhist monks, killing at least 31 people, according to the UN. In May last year, a cyclone left 138,000 people dead or missing.

"The regime showed contempt for the welfare of its own citizens when it persisted in conducting a fraudulent referendum in the immediate aftermath" of the cyclone, the State Department said. It said that Myanmar also "delayed international assistance that could have saved many lives." The regime forcibly relocated people away from their homes, particularly in areas dominated by ethnic minorities, with troops then confiscating their property or looting their possessions, the report said.

"Thousands of civilians were displaced from their traditional villages -- which often were then burned to the ground -- and moved into settlements tightly controlled by government troops in strategic areas," the report said. "In other cases villagers driven from their homes fled into the forest, frequently in heavily mined areas, without adequate food, security or basic medical care," it said. The State Department also said that women and members of certain minority groups are completely absent in the government and the judiciary. Myanmar's most famous woman, pro-democracy advocate and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has been under house arrest for most of the last 19 years.

US push for political progress in Myanmar

HANOI, February 26 (AFP): The United States on Wednesday called on Southeast Asian nations to push for "political progress" in military-ruled Myanmar. Scot Marciel, the US ambassador to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) told reporters his country wanted the group's members to "use whatever contacts and access they have in the country to encourage new thinking and reform and increase openness and political progress".

The diplomat, speaking after an official visit to Hanoi, said he would go to Thailand for the opening of the ASEAN summit starting on Friday. But he refused to elaborate on a policy review towards Myanmar US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had announced earlier. Marciel told reporters Clinton said "that our approach to date, emphasising sanctions, hadn't worked". "She also emphasised that the ASEAN approach of engagement hadn't worked," he said.

"So she said, given that we haven't achieved that success, it's logical and appropriate to review and look for new ideas to see if there is a way we can be more effective." A day after Obama took office a senior official in Yangon said Myanmar hoped the new president would change Washington's tough policy towards its military regime and end the "misunderstandings" of the past. - AFP

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