Asia

Pakistan and India Agree to “De-Escalate” Tension in Kashmir After U.N.’s Request

By Karen Diep
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India – On Wednesday, India and Pakistan’s chiefs of operation along the Line of Control reached an agreement to “de-escalate” military tensions in Kashmir.  Tensions arose between Pakistan and India after the deaths of two Indian and Pakistani soldiers last week.

Soldiers paying respect to those who have been killed in the dispute. (Photo Courtesy of Aljazeera)

“An understanding has been arrived at between the two director-generals of military operations to de-escalate the situation along the Line of Control,” shared spokesperson Jagdeep Dahiya.

According to BBC News, the military operations’ director of the Pakistani army agreed to the de-escalation after calling his Indian equivalent to “protest strongly” a “ceasefire violation” by Indian soldiers that killed a Pakistani soldier along the Line of Control Tuesday night.

On January 10th, the U.N. urged both countries to ceasefire and initiate dialogue.  The United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) made the request even as it received a complaint from Pakistan.  In the complaint, Pakistan claimed that Indian troops had purportedly crossed the Line of Control and “raided” a border post on January 6th. In response, India denied the allegation.

For the past 60 years, Kashmir has been a territory in distress and therefore, violent exchanges are not uncommon. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their separation in 1947, two of which were over the region of Kashmir.

On Tuesday, India’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, conveyed that the deaths of Indian soldiers last week, one of which included a beheading, were “unacceptable.”

In response, Pakistani’s Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, stated that India was “war-mongering” and this was “detrimental to the peace process between the two countries.”

According to The Tribune, on Monday, the Indian army’s chief of staff instructed his commanders to give an “aggressive” response to any shots fired by Pakistani forces along the Line of Control.

“We expect our commanders to be aggressive,” General Bikram Singh said prior to a meeting between Indian and Pakistani commanders.  “The orders are very clear: when provoked, I expect my unit commanders should fire back,” continued the general.

Nonetheless, an Indian military source conveyed to AFP that there has been no cross-border firing since the two director-generals spoke.

For more information, please see:

Aljazeera – India and Pakistan ‘to ease’ Kashmir tensions – 16 January 2013

BBC News – Kashmir crisis: Indian and Pakistan agree ‘de-escalation’ – 16 January 2013

The Tribune – Pakistan, India agree to ‘de-escalate’ border tensions – 16 January 2013

The Hindu – U.N. urges India, Pakistan to de-escalate tensions through dialogue – 16 January 2013

 

 

Displaced Rohingya Refugees Turned Away from Thailand

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BANGKOK, Thailand – Over 600 displaced Rohingya Muslims were found by Thai authorities after police raided a warehouse in the town of Sadao in Songkhla province and a rubber plantation in a Malaysian border town of Pedang Besar.

Rohingya refugees awaiting deportation. (Photo Courtesy of Al Jazeera)

Police suspected that the raid sites were utilized by local human traffickers and discovered the refugees during their operations.  Among the Rohingya discovered in Pedang Besar, roughly 20 of the refugees were women and children.

The Thai landowner of the raid sites is now being sought by the local authorities on illegal human trafficking charges.  The charge of sheltering illegal migrants has also been tacked on by the officials seeking to prosecute the alleged traffickers.

Reports say that the Rohingya refugees had fled Myanmar and were passing through Thailand en route to a third destination.  The migration was entirely voluntary by the Rohingya refugees; however, the migrants had been housed in the warehouse for 3 months prior to discovery.

The refugees were reportedly travelling to a final destination in Malaysia and the camps were temporary holding facilities as they passed through.  The landowners were middlemen who were paid to help facilitate the refugees’ journey.

The migrations may have been voluntary because the Rohingya people are currently stateless.  The Myanmar government continues to deny the Rohingya people official citizenship status.  Myanmar also classifies them as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

Nearby Bangladesh also denies the Rohingya people official status creating hostility and persecution for the stateless refugees.  The Thai government has refused to grant asylum and plans to force the recently discovered refugees back onto rickety and overcrowded boats for departure, similar to the ones they utilized during their arrival.

Similar incidents in 2008, where Rohingya were forcibly deported from Thailand, generated tragic results.  The Thai military put roughly 1000 Rohingya refugees onto boats without food or water causing hundreds of deaths.

The violence in the Rakhine state of Myanmar last June has caused a large displacement of the Rohingya people.  Of the 800,000 Rohingya people, an estimated 110,000 people were displaced, many of which were Rohingya.

Rights groups have clamored to the international community about Thailand’s attitude toward the recently discovered Rohingya refugees in the two police raids.  Thailand’s refusal of asylum for the stateless refugees and sending them back to sea in rickety boats without food or water is seen as shameful.

Thailand had already deported 73 of the Rohingya people back to Myanmar last week, but the boat landed in the nearby Thai island of Phuket.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Myanmar Rohingya refugees rescued in Thailand – 11 January 2013

Breitbart – 700 ROHINGYA IN THAILAND TO BE DEPORTED TO MYANMAR – 11 January 2013

Reuters – Over 600 illegal Rohingya migrants held in Thai raids – 11 January 2013

San Jose Mercury News – Rohingya boat people found adrift near Thai resort – 1 January 2013

Free Speech Protestors Continue in China

By Karen Diep
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – On Monday, hundreds of free speech protestors expressed their ire over China’s censorship guidelines in front of the headquarters of Southern Weekly, a left leaning southern newspaper in Guangzhou, where an alleged government editorial interference occurred.

Protestors outside of Southern Weekly. (Photo Courtesy of LA Times)

“I feel the ordinary people must awaken,” conveyed Yuan Fengchu, one of the protestors, to the Associated Press.  “The people are starting to realise that their rights have been taken away by the Communist party and they are feeling that they are being constantly oppressed.”

The protesters are demanding the resignation of the provincial’s propaganda chief after the blocking of a New Year’s editorial urging for greater constitutional rights.  In its place was an article praising the communist party’s accomplishments.

Moreover, according to Voice of America, while protests spread online, the protestors in the streets are fighting with communist party supporters. 

“Internationally, Southern Weekly is already regarded as the face of China under reform and opening. Domestically, Southern Weekly has spoken with a clear sense of truth, and has spoken on the people’s behalf,” read a letter issued by Chinese scholars.  “In light of this we openly advise that the only correct means [of dealing with this matter] is to immediately remove Tuo Zhen from his position as provincial minister of propaganda,” continued the letter.

According to The Los Angeles Times, as for the new party secretary, Xi Jinping, who will become president in March, he has alluded to plans in upholding constitutionally guaranteed rights and fighting corruption within the communist party.

In support of the protestors, Chinese celebrities, journalists, and other public figures have been lobbying in Beijing for free speech.

In addition to the protest, on Monday, Google confirmed that it had shut down a function that warned users about proscribed or sensitive words.  Many in response labeled Google’s choice to remove such function as “self-censorship.”

For more information, please see:

Los Angeles Times – In China, press censorship protests continue – 09 January 2013

Voice of America – China Free Speech Protests Spread Online – 08 January 2013

BBC News – Google turns off China censorship warning – 07 January 2013

Bloomberg Businessweek – A Rare Free-Speech Fight Erupts Over China Censures – 07 January 2013

The Guardian – China anti-censorship protest attracts support across country – 07 January 2013

Nobel Laureate and author Mo Yan likens censorship to airport security checks

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Mo Yan, the first Chinese national to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2012, refused to sign an appeal, supported by 134 other Nobel laureates, calling for the immediate release of detained Chinese rights activist and former Nobel Peace Prize winner, Liu Xiaobo.

Mo Yan, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, speaks in Stockholm. (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian)

Former Nobel Peace prize winners,  African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Taiwanese-American chemist Yuan Lee, are among the supporters that characterized Liu Xiaobo’s eleven year prison term as a heinous violation of international law.

Liu Xiaobo’s wife, Liu Xia, has also been detained, serving out her sentence under house arrest concurrently with her husband’s.  Liu Xia is under 24 hour guarded surveillance in her downtown Beijing apartment with no internet or phone line to connect her to the outside world.

When asked about his opinion regarding his fellow Nobel laureate and compatriot, Liu Xiaobo, Mo Yan refused to answer and told reporters that if they wanted to know his opinion, they should search the internet for the statements that he made back in October when it was first announced he had won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Liu Xiaobo was arrested and imprisoned by the Chinese government for his criticism of the Communist party and his call for democratic reforms.  The Chinese government accused Liu Xiaobo of interfering with the central government’s internal affairs as well as creating issues for the country abroad.

Mo Yan stated, in regards to China’s censorship of Liu Xiaobo, that censorship is necessary to guard against defamation or the spread of damaging false rumors.  He did, however, say that censorship should not stand in the way of the truth.

The Chinese author likened the practice of censorship to airport security checks, reinforcing his assertion that censorship was indeed a necessary tool.  Mo Yan conveyed that when he was passing through airport security, they wanted to check Yan for any dangerous items, making him take off his belt and shoes.  He believes that censorship is as necessary as these airport security checkpoints.

Herta Muller, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009, called Mo Yan’s award a “catastrophe.”  Hu Jia, a dissident of the Communist Chinese government also expressed his disappointment, wondering why Yan could not even say one sentence in support of Liu Xiaobo.

Mo Yan maintained that he is an independent thinker and will not be bullied into adopting ideas or making statements that are not his own.  He insisted that this is an outlook he has adopted for years and that his prize is about literature and not politics.

The 57 year old author’s real name is Guan Moye.  He adopted the pen name “Mo Yan” for his literary works, which, when translated into English means, “don’t speak.”

For further information, please see:

Shanghai Daily – Mo Yan likens censorship to security checks at airports – 7 December 2012

The Guardian – Censorship is a must, says China’s Nobel winner – 6 December 2012

Reuters – Chinese Nobel winner dodges call for laureate’s freedom – 6 December 2012

The Wall Street Journal – Detained China Nobel Wife Speaks Out – 6 December 2012

Report Alleges Abuse by Indian Officials in Kashmir

By Karen Diep
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India – On Thursday, a 354 page report  published by human rights groups, International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian Administered Kashmir (IPTK) and Srinagar-based Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), alleged that more than 500 members of India’s armed forces are in violation of human rights in India-administered Kashmir.

Soldiers in Kashmir Valley. (Photo Courtesy of BBC News)

Specifically, the report entitled “Alleged Perpetrators – Stories of Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir” names nine colonels, three brigadiers of Indian Army, three lieutenant colonels, seventy eight majors, twenty five captains, and thirty seven senior officials of the federal Paramilitary forces as agents of countless human rights violations: rape, torture, custody deaths, and abduction.

“While we believe in fixing the responsibility on the individuals, we have highlighted the culpability of the Indian state in shielding the perpetrators,” stated APDP’s chief Parvez Imroz.

According to BBC News, human rights lawyer Kartik Murukutla and an author of the report relayed that India’s urgency in Kashmir was to “control the territory, not pursue justice.”

“For the victims, the wait for proper justice seems perpetual. In its approach to justice, the Indian state has not moved beyond cash relief or the promise of re-investigation.  The state has willfully lowered the standard of justice as well as the crimes perpetrated,” shared Mr. Murukutla.

IPTK and APDP had gathered information through India’s new freedom of information laws from the police and interviews with families and others.

“This report prepared over two years using information gleaned mostly from official State documents, portrays the state of impunity prevalent in J&K where identities of the individual perpetrators of crime are known,” read an executive summary released four days in advance of World Human Rights Day.

According to BBC News, an army spokesman relayed that he was unaware of such a report.  “If they have sent it to the defense ministry we have not received it so far.  We can respond after proper perusal of the document,” said Lt-Col HS Brar.

Since 1989, thousands have died in a separatist insurgency in Kashmir, a disputed region claimed by both India and Pakistan.

For more information, please see:

The Hindu – Top Army, police officials involved in human rights abuse in Kashmir – 7 December 2012

BBC – India Officials accused of Kashmir rights abuses – 6 December 2012

Kafila – Full report: Alleged Perpetrators – Stories of Impunity in Jammu & Kashmir – 6 December – 2012