UNfinished Agenda -1

 UKRAINE LIKE CRISIS IN THE BORDERLANDS OF THE LARGEST DEMOCRACTIC COUNTRY INDIA

UNfinished Agenda

Today, the 12th of January, 2023, was just another normal morning for most people in the world. It was just as mundane for me too. I got up late at 8 AM and while scanning the news as I had hot pipping puris and Alu paneer sabzi, I was hit hard by two headlines in the nondescript section of TOI NE section and I am feeling a bit guilty and shameful of my silence until now. And you will be too if you know what your silence has done to these people and how many evil and brute tyrants have gained ground in parts of the world due to our indifference. HC Vanlalruata writing for Times News Network, a leading English newspaper in India, writes, "Myanmar jets pound Chin training camps on Mizoram border" and just below the column he further wrote, "932 Bangla refugees pushed back since Dec 4: Aizawl outfit". The details are available in The Times of India, Guwahati/Northeast, Wednesday, January 11, 2023 edition. Just then I realized, I have the previous day's newspaper in my hand. How callous we all have become, we cant be bothered with what's going on in the world while we are so consumed by our little sorted lives. Picking up the day's edition, I could not miss the captioned headline,"Fresh Myanmar jet attacks on Chin Training camp near Mizoram border, 'death toll rises to five'. Even after reading this; Somehow, my thoughts gravitated towards what the western media heavily reported on all media platforms - the Ukraine crisis and I unknowingly made a very slight mental comparison on the casualty here and in Ukraine. I sheepishly came up with the conclusion that it's not that bad. But, really? Then I decided to probe deeper and here's my finding:  No updated reports are available on the internet, its a dark territory for journalism. As per Wikipedia reports , UNOCHA said that as of early September 2022, 974,000 people had been internally displaced since the coup. Between the coup and June 2022, over 40,000 people fled into neighboring countries, including many from communities close to the borders that came under attack by junta forces.The bloody repression of anti-coup demonstrations led to the creation of armed groups to fight the State Administration Council, the military junta. Gathered under the name of the People's Defence Force (PDF) and the orders of the National Unity Government (NUG), formed by former parliamentarians in office before the coup d'état, the PDF and the NUG officially declared a "defensive war" against the military regime in September 2021.The ACLED estimated that as of 29 July 2022, around 23,521 people in total had been killed in the violence following the 2021 coup. Since no statistic on villages burnt and persons killed post Sept., 2021 is not readily available, we had to make a guess. With reports received from villagers and refugees crossing into Indian state of Mizoram, we can safely say the number of people killed, jailed, and executed must have gone up at least four-fold as of today. ``

While the world stood up and acknowledged the courage of Ukranians in their fight to remain a sovereign republic; the women, children, youths and men were brutally murdered everyday in Myanmar even as they gave the junta the fight they won't forget so easily. These bravehearts have found no mention in the popular discourse or the world media as much as it should have been. It could be the result of lack of access to credible news from within Myanmar or perhaps plain indifference or the governments of the world recalibrating their responses to suit their own 'national interest'. National interest or looking out for our own interests. This is the term Shri Jaishankar, the Minister of External Affairs frequently used as a guide to conduct India's international relations. For God sake, India is the largest democracy in the world and in her neighbourhood, the youths are sacrifing their life as a part of PDF to restore democracy. I hope I am out of touch when I say no significant protest or voice in support of champions of democracy has not come from leaders of India or the US -the oldest democracy and champion of democratic values worldwide. In Naypidaw, the capital of Myanmar, the current prime minister Min Aung Hlaing, who is also the leader of the junta and the commander-in-chief of defence services, seems to go on doing business as usual with corporates and other countries even though such as post does not exist as per their constitution. The neighbours who could have put pressure on the junta regime seems to grant legitimacy by their calculated silence. The civil war in Myanmar is raging all over Myanmar, not just in Chin State, but the brunt of collective punishment and state terrorism is felt more acutely in states or regions populated by the ethnic minorities. Its is bad enough that a peaceful protest was allowed to disintegrate into a defensive war wherein youths and students left their studies and joined the PDF to protect their rights. The brutal repression was so severe that it left no space for peaceful, democratic struggles. There was a time when world would stand for anyone who stood for their democratic rights and human rights in a peaceful manner. Have been lost our way? Has the world regressed? Even the UN seem myopic, the UN has iscussed Ukraine crisis a good number of times at the UNGA and UNSC but no significant resolution has been moved supporting democracy in Myanmar has been forthcoming. Ukraine deserves all our support from the free world and so does Myanmar. 

To be continued

A personal blog on issues that needs to be resolved in the world with special reference to NE India and the People inhabiting the borderlands of the three countries in South Asia and SE Asia - Myanmar, India, and Bangladesh. Their lives, cultures, hopes and aspirations, and the sufferings and conflicts faced by these micro-nations will be the focus of this blog.  Unorthodox issues and themes left out in the cold by established media houses will be featured here and people who have something to say on these issues will be encouraged to co-write and be given the space and the much-needed encouragement.``c