A report published in the ‘Guardian’ claimed that the government of India has put 34 Burmese people behind the bars accusing them of arms smuggling in Indo-Myanmar border region. The report said that they were actually the anti-military rule rebels belong to the Arakan ethnic minority in Myanmar. They were fighting with the Burmese army and captured by Indian security forces in February 1998.

The Indian army had caught them along with a cache of arms and weapons in the Andaman and Nicobar islands in 1998. The Indian Army had claimed that during the operation Leech it had caught the group of gunrunners aiding anti-Indian separatists in the region.

On the other hand, the supporters of those arrested rebels claimed that they were members of Karen National Union (KNU) and National Unity Party of Arakan (Nupa) and they were fighting against the Burma’s military junta. They also claimed that the government of India had been provided arms and a sanctuary to them.

A new report has claimed that the secret trial of 34 Burmese men is likely to be resumed in next month in India. The defence lawyer Akshya Sharma said that they all were facing life imprisonment under the charges of illegal arms possession, traveling without a valid permit and waging war against India.

Now, in the view of anti-military rule protests in Myanmar, the case has come under the spotlight and human right activists have started raising voice in the support of the Burmese people in Indian jails

Defence lawyer said:

We’re on solid ground. We don’t expect the prosecution to prove their own story... We’re sure to win. The Burmese people in jail have had no contact with the outside world since their arrest.

The trial judge has been transferred and we expect a new judge to be in place shortly and the trial will resume after the holidays end early next month.

According to the lawyer, an unidentified Indian colonel had offered the Burmese rebels to set up a rebel camp in Andaman’s Long Island. Later he betrayed them and arrested the 34 men after receiving 58,000 dollars from them.

A veteran socialist leader Surendra Mohan claimed that the arresting of the 34 Myanmar rebels was a clear case of treachery by the Indian army. It was the Indian Army, which provided arms and shelter to the rebels to fight against the military regime at that time.

Several Human rights activists like Nandita Haskar, Sujato Bhadro have said that pro-democratic groups would keep a close eye on the in-camera trial to ensure no harm comes to the Burmese pro-democratic rebels in India.

Read