MP urges Parliament to seek release of Indians arrested in Burma

Ngunte and Nga Ngai
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)

August 8, 2006 - An Indian Member of Parliament has urged the Government of India to intervene and seek the immediate release of 21 Indian nationals, including a six year old, who were arrested in Burma for illegal logging.

Mani Charenamei, MP from the northeast Indian state of Manipur, which borders Burma, urged the lower house (Lok Sabha) during zero hour on Thursday to consider ways to obtain the release of the Indians who are detained in the Burmese prison in Chin State.

"They [the govt.] has acknowledged receipt of my letter but no positive action has been taken for the release and no action has been reported by the [Indian] government after my writing," Charenamei told Mizzima.

According to a Manipur daily newspaper, the Sangai Express, the arrested Indians were sentenced to seven years in prison term by a military court in Tonzang township in Chin state, Burma. However, the fate of the minor remains undecided, said the paper.

"According to some information I received… they [the Indians] have been sentenced to seven years imprisonment," said Charenamei.

However, the report of the seven years sentence of the Indian nationals could not be independently confirmed.

The 21 Indians, residents of Singat town in Churachandpur district, Manipur, were arrested on May 6, this year by the Burmese military for illegal logging in Tonzang township of Chin state in Burma. They were reportedly detained in Tonzang police station.

In a bid at diplomatic intervention, Charenamei also met the Burmese ambassador in New Delhi.

"I wrote a letter and met the Burmese ambassador on June 26. They were quite positive. They will look into it and they asked me to write to the Indian Home ministry and External Affairs ministry. They told me that they will condemn and will sort out the problem," said Charenamei.