Kashmir Imbroglio: Creating Binary between Nehru and Patel!

 

Ram Puniyani

 

 

As Bharat Jodo yatra, in its final phase is in Kashmir, there is an overwhelming response. At the same time some writers and commentators are using the occasion for Nehru bashing, blaming him for the difficult situation created there. Some are using this to create a binary between Nehru and Patel yet again, stating that had Patel handled the issue it would have been ‘solved’. This understanding is not only naïve, accusatory but also far from truth. This only aims to further the BJP-RSS narrative on the troubled past and painful present.

 

As India was to gain Independence from colonial rule, the princely states were given the option to either merge with India or Pakistan or even to remain Independent. Most of the princely states could be merged with ease. The problem remained with Hyderabad and Kashmir. Hyderabad was merged to India through the police action (Operation Polo), while issue of J&K became more complicated due to its geographical proximity with Pakistan and majority of its population being Muslims.

Maharaja Harisingh wanted to keep J&K independent. He also offered ‘standstill agreement’ (status quo with use of facilities with India and Pakistan) to India and Pakistan both. Pakistan accepted this and her flags flew over the Post offices in Kashmir, as postal system was being run by Pakistan. India did not accept this agreement. There was another factor in the state. Anti-Muslim violence was engineered by Maharaja Harisingh. His understanding was that he is ruling over a Muslim majority state, so there should be at least one area in the state where Hindus are in majority. This violence led to the massacre of nearly two lakh Muslim in the state. Saaed Naqvi writes,  “To quote a 10 August 1948 report published in The Times, London: “2,37,000 Muslims were systematically exterminated – unless they escaped to Pakistan along the border – by the forces of the Dogra State headed by the Maharaja in person and aided by Hindus and Sikhs. This happened in October 1947, five days before the Pathan invasion and nine days before the Maharaja’s accession to India.”  And it is this massacre which made Jammu as Hindu majority and partly triggered the Kashmir problem.

Using this as a pretext the Tribal supported by Pakistan army launched the attack on J&K. The state was unprepared to face this assault and wanted India to send its armies to quell this aggression; it was in this backdrop that the treaty of accession was signed.

Earlier Harisingh had refused to merge with India. Also Jinnah had commented that Kashmir is in his pocket as it a Muslim majority state. National Conference, which was earlier Muslim Conference, led by Sheikh Abdullah had launched a democratic agitation against the Maharaja’s rule to end the feudal structure of society. That apart as the three states (Junagadh, Hyderabad and Kashmir) were not willing to merge with India; Sardar Patel was willing to let Kashmir to go to Pakistan if Junagadh and Hyderabad merge with India. Rajmohan Gandhi in his book “Patel: A Life”, tells us that Patel was thinking of making an ideal bargain: if Jinnah lets India have Junagadh and Hyderabad, Patel would not object to Kashmir acceding to Pakistan. He cites a speech by Patel at Bahauddin College in Junagadh, following the latter’s merger with India, in which he said: “We would agree to Kashmir if they agreed to Hyderabad.”

As far as handling Kashmir was concerned, unlike in other Princely states, here Pakistan was also involved and so Nehru, being Foreign affairs minister also, had to lead the issue. Patel and Nehru were on the same page in this endeavor. Patel was more interested in Junagadh and Hyderabad, while negotiations of Article 370 and the steps in handling the same were happening with him being very much around. He may not have been central figure in drafting of 370, but was very much in the know of the same and there is no evidence of Patel opposing it in any way. “Patel was neither central to Article 370 as …(some) suggests, nor is there any evidence that his centrality would have ensured full integration of Kashmir with India, as is assumed by the governmental narrative today.”

Also those suggesting that Patel would have taken the army further rather than call for ceasefire should know that Patel in a letter to Gopalswamy Ayyangar on 4^th June 1948 wrote, “The military position is not too good and I am afraid that out military resources are strained to the utmost” (Sardar Patel’s Correspondence)

The march of Indian army did save Kashmir from the marauding tribal’s (supported by Pakistan army). The cease fire was declared to protect the civilians and also to ensure that a peaceful solution will emerge through the United Nations. The matter being taken to United Nations has been criticized but that must have been the best option in that circumstance.

Patel very much approved of it, “As regards specific issues raised by Pakistan, as you have pointed out, the question of Kashmir is before the Security Council. Having invoked a forum to settlement of disputes open to both India and Pakistan, as members of the United Nations Organisation, nothing further need be done in the way of settlement of disputes than to leave matters to be adjusted through that forum.” (Patel’s letter to  Jawaharalal Nehru dated 23 February 1950, page 105-106,  of the book  “Sardar Patel’s correspondence 1945-50 Volume 10 Navjivan publishing house, Ahmedabad, 1974).

The attempt to create a binary between the line taken by Nehru and probable line of Patel is figment of fiction for political considerations of sorts, as Nehru and Patel both were on the same page on the issue. As far as Kashmir is concerned, as people have welcomed Bharat Jodo yatra, it is yet another occasion to introspect and restore democratic norms in the state.

 

Humanitarian aid: EU releases over €43 million for Myanmar and Bangladesh

 

The EU has released over €43 million to address the humanitarian needs of people in Myanmar, as well as those of Rohingya refugees and their host communities in Bangladesh.

In Myanmar, the EU will provide over €18 million to respond to the dramatic escalation in needs following the military takeover of 2021. The funding will allow humanitarian partners to ensure the provision of life-saving support such as protection, food, shelter, healthcare and education.

The EU will also continue to support the efforts of Bangladesh in responding to the Rohingya refugee crisis by providing over €23 million, part of which will also contribute to implement disaster preparedness programmes in the country. A further dedicated allocation of €2 million will help address the needs of Rohingya and other refugees in neighbouring countries, such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

Background 

In Myanmar, 17.6 million people are expected to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2023, a dramatic increase from 1 million in 2021. A third of those in need are children.

Over 5 years after large-scale violence forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people to flee Rakhine State in Myanmar, Bangladesh still hosts almost 1 million refugees. Rohingya refugees live in precarious and deteriorating conditions, with the majority located in the congested refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, where they are entirely dependent on humanitarian aid.

The EU has been providing humanitarian aid to people in Myanmar since 1994, and in Bangladesh since 2002. With this additional funding, EU humanitarian aid for Myanmar now totals over €68 million since 2021. Support for Rohingya refugees, their host communities, and disaster preparedness efforts in Bangladesh since the beginning of the Rohingya crisis in 2017 now stands at over €242 million.

Special Envoy Heyzer urgently calls for international unity on humanitarian aid

 

MEDIA ADVISORY: As Myanmar crisis enters third year, Special Envoy Heyzer urgently calls for international unity on humanitarian aid, stance on elections and civilian protection

31 January 2023

 

BANGKOK – The Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General on Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer today highlighted key areas for concrete action where greater regional and international unity can support a Myanmar-led process to end the violence and suffering and help Myanmar return to the path of democracy guided by the will of the people. In her urgent call, the Special Envoy focused on humanitarian aid without discrimination and through all available channels, a unified position on the military’s plans for elections, and protection of civilians including both people inside Myanmar and refugees.

 

Over the past two years, the military’s disruption of Myanmar’s democratic transition has inflicted enormous damage on the country and people, and led to a multidimensional crisis spanning severe humanitarian, human rights and socio-economic consequences with serious regional ramifications. As of the end of last year, 15.2 million people were food insecure, more than 1.5 million internally displaced and an estimated 34,000 civilian structures had been destroyed since the military takeover. The Rohingya people in refugee camps and those remaining in the country, as well as other marginalized communities, are at heightened risk with 2022 marking one of the deadliest years for people forced to undertake perilous sea journeys.

 

The Special Envoy renewed the United Nations’ solidarity with the people of Myanmar and the need for protection of all communities, which the United Nations Secretary-General reinforced in his recent statement. She reiterated the Secretary-General’s concern regarding the military’s stated intention to hold elections, which threatens to worsen the violence and instability in the absence of inclusive political dialogue and conditions that permit citizens to freely exercise their political rights without fear or intimidation.

 

The Special Envoy urgently calls for greater unity and commitment among the international community in three key areas:

 

First, the international community, and particularly donors and Myanmar’s neighbours, must come together with humanitarian actors including local humanitarian networks to scale up urgently needed assistance to all those in need without discrimination and through all available channels. A commitment to increase levels of cross-border aid, along with more flexible banking and reporting rules, will facilitate humanitarian support to people most in need.

 

Second, the international community must forge a stronger unified position regarding the military’s potential elections which will fuel greater violence, prolong the conflict and make the return to democracy and stability more difficult.

 

Third, the international community must implement measures to increase protection for civilians inside Myanmar as well as for Myanmar refugees in the wider region. Such measures could include an on-the-ground monitoring mechanism as part of the implementation of ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus and its commitment to stop the violence in Myanmar, and regional frameworks for the protection of refugees and forcibly displaced people.

 

“It is inconceivable any form of peaceful and democratic transition can be initiated by those perpetrating harm on their own citizens,” Special Envoy Heyzer said. “The violence has to stop, including the aerial bombings and burning of civilian infrastructure along with military’s ongoing arrests of political leaders, civil society actors and journalists.”

 

Guided by her ongoing consultations with women and youth, ethnic, political and community leaders, and refugee representatives, the Special Envoy is focusing on the following four areas: an Inclusive Humanitarian Forum; upscaling access to education for Rohingya refugees and host communities; regional frameworks for the protection of refugees and forcibly displaced people; and advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda in Myanmar.

ASEAN Needs to Work With Burma’s Democratic Resistance to End Violence and Reverse the Slow Balkanization

 

Saw Tah Doh Moo, General-Secretary, Karen National Union

Khu Plu Reh, General-Secretary, Karenni National Progressive Party
Salai Thla Hei, General-Secretary, Chin National Front

Under Indonesia’s rotating leadership for 2023, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will reportedly hold their first policy retreat in Jakarta at the beginning of February. The Burmese junta’s continuing violence against the people of Burma will undoubtedly be an outstanding issue on the agenda.

As leaders of ethnic armed organizations that provide security, sanctuary, training and operational support for the nationwide armed resistance movement in Burma, we believe our on-the-ground perspectives from the frontlines may help ASEAN to better comprehend the situation. Indeed, grounded perspectives are essential building blocks for a potentially fruitful ASEAN approach to Burma’s protracted conflicts.

Emblem of the Karen National Union

Flag of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP)

Emblem of the Chin National Front.

Here we offer our first-hand observations with specific respect to three crucial issues, both immediate and long-term, confronting Burma as a problem member of the regional bloc – first, the military junta’s widely rejected plan for the new elections this year, and their likely negative impact on the already deepening violent conflicts which have enveloped the entire country of 55 million people; second, the immediate need to prevent Burma from sliding further into state disintegration and ethnic Balkanization in slow motion; and third, the post-conflict rebuilding of Burma not simply as a majoritarian democracy, but also, as a federal political system.

To start with, the Jakarta meeting could not come at a more opportune time. Recently, the UN Security Council passed its first-ever resolution on Burma (12 voted ‘yes’, and three abstained: China, Russia and India) emphatically calling for an end to the violence that has engulfed the Southeast Asian nation since the universally rejected coup of 1 February 2022. Despite the non-binding nature of the resolution, it acknowledges ASEAN’s role as the most crucial mechanism for ending violence in Burma.

Importantly, the Security Council resolution came on the heels of the U.S. government passing the BURMA Act, as a part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) just before Christmas. The BURMA Act allocates substantial humanitarian aid and non-lethal (non-military) support for the democratic resistance movement of which our ethnic resistance organizations serve as the backbone.

Over the last three decades, Russia and China had previously double-vetoed similar resolutions at the Council not once, but twice (January 2007 and April 2022). Their abstentions on the historic Burma resolution afford ASEAN leadership an unprecedented opportunity to seek further constructive involvement of and backing by Moscow and Beijing with regards to ASEAN’s efforts to kick start the bloc-led diplomacy towards the cessation of violence and formulate a transitional plan on Burma.

In this regard, President Joko Widodo’s growing stature as a G20 leader, who is able to maintain his “brotherly” ties with President Putin and President Xi, is in a position to help sway the two fellow G-20 leaders for a firm and principled ASEAN-led approach in resolving Burma’s perennial crisis with the spill-over regional consequences such as Rohingya “boat people”.

Burma’s internal conflicts have triggered chronic waves of war, atrocity and repression-fleeing refugees, for instance, Karen, Kachin, Karenni, Shan, Chin, Rohingya, and now the majority Bama. This poses non-traditional security threats not only to Burma’s immediate neighbors such as Bangladesh, Thailand, China and India, but also Malaysia, Singapore, Aceh province in Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.

Now, onto the 3-crucial issues that we believe ought to be better understood: In his Independence Day announcement on 4 January 2023, Burma coup leader Min Aung Hlaing coupled the news of the amnesty for 7,000 prisoners with his plan to hold a new general election in 2023.

Elections held by authoritarian regimes, without addressing fundamental political conflicts, only fuel ongoing conflicts and seed new ones. Burma, where the military has written itself into the 2008 Constitution as the only truly altruistic and trust-worthy organization to decide the nation’s future, is one glaring case in point.

In the last 30-years, in every military-sponsored election – in 1990, 2015, and 2020 – the military’s proxy parties were crushed at the ballot box. This, in spite of the generally rigged election laws. Every electoral defeat has been followed by either the wholesale annulment of the election results (1990) and widespread imprisonment of MP-elects and national opposition leaders, or the military coup (for instance, the coup of February 2022), on fabricated narratives of “national security”.

Holding new elections in 2023 will not resolve the crisis. No one believes it will be a democratic exercise. If the military wins, the democratic resistance popularly backed by the country’s multiethnic public, will reject the results. The public will continue with their armed resistance. And the country will slide further into state disintegration and Balkanization. If the military loses, the generals will either annul the election results, launch another coup, or find another excuse to stay on in power. Either scenario will only trigger even stiffer popular resistance, further destabilizing the already unstable country.

The Burma Army is holding elections to re-install the 2008 Constitution which they tore up when they launched the coup in February 2021. They need the 2008 Constitution because it gives the military veto power in Burma politics in perpetuity. This constitution of, for and by the military has not a sunset clause designed to peacefully phase out the monopoly role of the dominant military, from the country’s political life. All successful transitions from military dictatorship to democracy such as Indonesia, Chile and Brazil, in transition have sunset clauses.

In the last two years since the coup, Burma’s diverse peoples have witnessed first-hand, and on social media platforms, the extreme violence with which the security forces have brutally killed the people of Burma. Today the people of Burma no longer believe in the decades-old myth that the national military is protecting the people and the nation. They no longer want the military interfering in the politics of the country. They categorically reject the 2008 Constitution of, for and by the military.

ASEAN and the international community need to stress to the chief of the Burma Army Min Aung Hlaing that elections are not the solution, but a formula for further instability and state collapse. Instead, he needs to stop the killing and talk to all stakeholders who now lead the democratic resistance.

Burma today is a country in the slow-motion process of state disintegration. The chronic waves of refugees such as Rohingyas who drift and die at high sea across South and Southeast Asian waters, the growing number of IDPs from all ethnic communities from all regions of Burma, and the increasing volume of violence which permeates society today are only the symptoms of the deeper malaise.

The Burma Army under Min Aung Hlaing is losing territorial control to the stiff popular armed resistance that has now spread across even the Burmese Buddhist heartlands from where it typically drew its recruits. In places where some of the fiercest and best organized resistance is waged, military commanders dare not venture out of their regiment compound. The military’s control does not extend far beyond city limits even in places like the former capital Yangon and Mandalay, the second largest city. In the non-Bama ethnic regions such as Chin State bordering India on the West, more than two-thirds of the territories are no longer under the administrative control of the military junta.

The Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) made up of civil servants from all state bureaucracies including technocrats, doctors, engineers, train conductors, teachers, academics, accountants, administrators, law enforcement officers (for instance, police) has more or less emptied the state of its essential administrators, managers and staff, thus crippling the military junta. Even in major towns and cities with strong military bases the junta’s administrators and their families are routinely killed by the resistance fighters.

These internal conflicts, coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic, have practically brought Burma’s national economy to its knees. Crucially, the agricultural sector, garment production sector and other local informal economies, which employed the greatest number of people are reeling severely from the continuing and widespread violence. This process of gradual state disintegration needs to be seriously addressed as part of the emerging challenge to ASEAN.

In sharp contrast, our territorial control is expanding. Our organizations have decades of experience, in operating effectively as semi-state organizations in the territories which we control through our self-defense armed organizations. Our political organizations have armed or military wings established for self-defense purposes for our respective ethnic communities. We have founded and run forestry and conservation departments, health and pre-collegiate education systems, taxation and revenue systems, civil administration and local democracies. Out of necessity, we have also built humanitarian aid delivery and distribution systems, and protection for Internally Displaced Persons – numbering a total of 1.8 million IDPs now since the coup of 2020.

Importantly, we have conducted rescue missions, offered effective protection and/or provided safe spaces for members of the National Unity Government (NUG), including the NUG’s cabinet ministers. The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in the north, the Karen National Union (KNU) in the east and southeast, the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) in the east, and the Chin National Front (CNF) in the West, have trained thousands of democratic resistors in a defensive grassroots war against the Burma Army. As the usurper, the military headed by Min Aung Hlaing has made its own people “enemies of the state”. These young Burmese majority resistant fighters live on our land, and fight the repressive military. We fully support them logistically, operationally and politically.

In the past, when the majority Burmese Buddhist public revolt, peaceful or armed as was the case in 1988 anti-dictatorship uprising, the Myanmar military would seek an uneasy peace with us, the non-Bama resistance communities, in order to avoid fighting the war on two fronts. The military leadership know that our ethnic armed organizations are fighting for a federal system of power sharing with the majority Bama – not secession or independence. And yet it has deliberately mis-framed us as “ethno-nationalist secessionists hellbent on disintegrating the Union of Myanmar” – to pit us against the nationalistic Bama majority.

The military’s misinformation campaign is no longer working today.

What is unprecedented about the present anti-coup movement of multiple ethnic communities including the Bama majority is the following: the military’s divide-and-rule strategy of pitting our ethnic nationalities or national minorities against the Bama majority– no longer has any traction with the majoritarian public.

The opposite is happening since the bloody crack-down of the originally peaceful anti-coup protests throughout the country. Today, our ethnic armed organizations that have long been in control of large swaths of our ancestral regions along Indo-Burmese, Sino-Chinese and Thai-Burma borders since the coup 2 years ago have become sanctuaries for nearly 100,000 activists. The new generation of Burma, known as Generation Z, or “Gen. Z”, fled urban centers and volunteered to swap their videogames and comfortable middle-class lifestyle to serve as new democratic resisters.

As leaders of ethnic armed organizations, we are acutely aware of the devastating intergenerational and international consequences when a UN member states collapse, as the result of civil wars, foreign invasions, or atrocities such as genocide. The last thing Burma’s suffering peoples of all faiths and ethnicities need and want is the Balkanization in the middle of the ASEAN region. The situation on the ground is ripe for ASEAN to work with the democratic resistance in order that state collapse in Burma may be reversed.

ASEAN needs to emphatically tell the junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and his military to stop killing the people of Burma, scorch-earthing whole villages and neighborhoods, burning resisters alive and executing non-violence activists with an alarming frequency. The military must acknowledge and accept that they have failed to protect the people. They have failed to contribute to building a stable and peaceful state out of multiple nations. It is time that ASEAN work with the democratic resistance to end the violence in Burma and to help all stakeholders towards rebuilding Burma as a federal and democratic state.

Our ethnic armed organizations had entered into an agreement to build such a state with both governments of President Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi, something Min Aung Hlaing in his capacity as the Commander-in-Chief of the military officially endorsed. Just as he has reneged on the ASEAN 5-Points Consensus reached in Jakarta in April 2021, he has breached our national agreement, annulled everything and seized power.

As leaders of ethnic armed resistance organizations, we view ourselves not only representatives of our respective communities but as national actors. We are forging ahead with an institutional platform for a federal democracy. We offer our utmost assistance to ASEAN and call on the UN and friends of ASEAN to support its efforts in implementing the Five-Point Consensus. Expectations are high among the people of Burma that under Indonesia’s firm and principled leadership, ASEAN will finally use its collective leadership to help stem the tide of the violence in Burma and help kickstart a process for peaceful conflict resolution in our beleaguered nation.

Saw Tah Doh Moo, General-Secretary, Karen National Union
Khu Plu Reh, General-Secretary, Karenni National Progressive Party
Salai Thla Hei, General-Secretary, Chin National Front

Joint Statement on Marking Two Years Since the Military Coup in Myanmar

 A joint statement by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union, and the Foreign Ministers of Albania, Armenia, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, the Federated States of Micronesia, Georgia, Ghana, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States, on the two year anniversary of the military coup in Myanmar.

Begin Text:

On 1 February 2021, the Myanmar military staged a coup d’état and seized power against the will of the people, plunging the country into a deep political, economic and humanitarian crisis.

Over the last two years, the people of Myanmar have courageously demonstrated their commitment to a democratic country, demanding respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and showing determined resilience in the face of unspeakable atrocities.

Since the coup, the military regime has violently cracked down on any form of opposition, including peaceful protests. Credible reports indicate that thousands of civilians, including children, have been jailed, tortured and killed.

There are mounting reports that air strikes, bombardments and the mass burning of villages and places of worship have targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure. Reports of torture and sexual violence by the security forces are widespread. The prolonged conflict has seen thousands of civilian casualties, over 17 million people in need and 1.5 million people displaced from their homes.

We welcome and support the central role of ASEAN in addressing the crisis in Myanmar, including the efforts of the ASEAN Chair and ASEAN Special Envoy to Myanmar.

We welcome the UN Security Council Resolution 2669 (2022) on the situation in Myanmar which calls for the immediate cessation of violence and the upholding of universal human rights, the provision of full and unhindered humanitarian access and the protection of civilians. It calls on the military regime to effectively and fully implement ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus, and to immediately release all arbitrarily detained prisoners, including President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. It reaffirms our support for the ASEAN Special Envoy to Myanmar and the UN Special Envoy to Myanmar and encourages their close coordination.  It also urges all parties in Myanmar to work constructively with both Envoys to commence dialogue to seek a peaceful solution.

The military overruled the democratic wishes of the people of Myanmar as expressed in the November 2020 General Election, when they seized power on 1 February 2021. We reiterate our call for the return of Myanmar to a democratic path. The military regime must end violence and create space for meaningful and inclusive dialogue to allow for any democratic process to resume.

We once again call on all members of the international community to support all efforts to hold those responsible for human rights violations and abuses to account; to cease the sale and transfer of arms and equipment which facilitate atrocities; and to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of Myanmar’s people, including its most vulnerable communities.

We remain resolute in our support for all those working peacefully towards an inclusive and democratic future for the people of Myanmar.

End Text

Bangladesh secures $4.7 bln from IMF as other South Asian countries see delays

 Jan 30 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved loans of $4.7 billion to Bangladesh for disbursal starting immediately, making it the first to secure such funds out of three South Asian countries that applied last year amid economic trouble.

The loans are a win for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ahead of a general election early next year and will help the country, which has seen a sharp widening of its current account deficit, depreciation of the taka currency and a decline in its foreign exchange reserves.

Bangladesh will get about $3.3 billion under the IMF's extended credit facility and related arrangements, with an immediate disbursement of about $476 million. The IMF executive board also approved about $1.4 billion under its newly created Resilience and Sustainability Facility for climate investments for Bangladesh, the first Asian country to access it.

The IMF said the loans will "protect macroeconomic stability and rebuild buffers, while helping to advance the authorities’ reform agenda". The agenda includes creating fiscal space to enable greater social and developmental spending, strengthening Bangladesh's financial sector, boosting fiscal and governance reforms and building climate resilience.

"Since independence, Bangladesh has made steady progress in reducing poverty and significant improvements in living standards," Antoinette M. Sayeh, the IMF's deputy managing director, said in a statement.

"However, the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent Russia’s war in Ukraine interrupted this long period of robust economic performance," Sayeh added. "Multiple shocks have made macroeconomic management challenging in Bangladesh."

The country last year also sought $2 billion from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank amid efforts to bolster its foreign exchange reserves.

Bangladesh's regional counterparts, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, are doing much worse economically but have not been able to get final approval for IMF loans.

Bangladesh's current account deficit hit a record $18.7 billion in the last financial year, which ended on June 30, as exports of garments failed to offset a surge in energy costs. The Bangladesh central bank expects the deficit to fall to about $6.8 billion at the end of the current fiscal year.

The government has also raised fuel and energy prices in recent months as it approached the IMF. It announced a 5% increase in retail power prices from Wednesday, the second such rise this month.w

Reporting by Ismail Shakil and Krishna N. Das; Editing by Tim Ahmann, Deepa Babington and Gerry Doyle

Junta Continues to Commit Atrocity Crimes Two Years After the Attempted Military Coup

 

 

Today marks two years since the attempted military coup in Burma. Over the last two years, the people of Burma have bravely resisted the junta’s violent attempt to take total control of the country. In the face of mass, unwavering public resistance, the junta continues to increase its campaign of brutality and savagery as it carries out killings, torture, forced disappearances, sexual violence, and airstrikes against the civilian population throughout the country.    Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) has so far documented from 1st February 2021 to 31stDecember 2022. According to the documentation, the total number of civilians killed by the junta reached 3160 people. There were 363 people who were tortured and killed within 24 hours of their arrest by the junta. Arson attacks by the junta forces on civilian properties across the country destroyed 46,350 houses. Sagaing Division has the largest rates of all the above-mentioned crimes committed by the junta. Freedom of religion and belief was also significantly violated during the period, with hundreds of religious buildings burned and destroyed, including Churches, Buddhist monasteries, and Mosques.    While these events have garnered international attention, other forms of structural violence and human rights violations of Burma’s Muslim minorities has continued to occur largely under the radar, with particularly severe violations against the Rohingya people. Since the coup, Rohingya and other Muslim minorities have been subjected to tightened restrictions on their fundamental freedoms and are increasingly at risk of being subjected to further atrocity crimes.   Since the coup, the junta has imposed new movement restrictions and aid blockages on Rohingya camps and villages. The junta has arrested thousands of Muslims, hundreds of them children, for ‘unauthorized’ travel. Those arrested face a maximum of five years in prison. According to the Burma Human Rights Network’s (BHRN) documentation from 1 February 2021 to December 2022, at least 2,840 Rohingya were arrested and detained for traveling outside their communities without getting prior permission showing a sharp uptick in the number of arrests since the coup. BHRN has also documented 70 cases of other Muslim minorities being arbitrarily arrested.   The junta and its supporters continue to use divisive and hateful rhetoric targeting non-Buddhist religious groups to divide the resistance and deflect and divert attention from the coup. While religious oppression has been a longstanding issue in Burma, the coup emboldened the junta to further persecute, marginalize, and incite violence against the Rohingya and other Muslim minorities throughout the country. From 1 February 2021 until January 2023, BHRN has documented over 539 incidents of hate-speech targeting Muslims by junta supporters on social media including Facebook, Telegram, and junta-backed journals.   BHRN and other human rights groups have also documented cases of the junta looting, burning and destroying properties, shops, and places of worship of Muslim communities. BHRN documentation shows that more than 770 houses in Muslim villages were burned down by the junta in Sagaing region since the start of the coup. BHRN documentation shows the junta has killed at least 81 Muslims since 1 February 2021.

 

“Amidst all this violence and brutality, the international response to the coup has proceeded in a slow and fragmented manner, falling short of the Burma people’s expectations. The longer the international community waits to act, the more emboldened the junta will become as it continues to commit atrocities. The situation in Myanmar requires an immediate and cohesive international response”, said Kyaw Win, Executive Director of BHRN.

 

The Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) calls on governments worldwide to:   ·  Redouble efforts to pursue international legal action against the junta, including by joining the Gambia’s case at the International Court of Justice and by actively pursuing investigations and prosecutions under the principle of universal jurisdiction like those in Turkey, Argentina, and Germany.    ·  Work together to strengthen international sanctions to cut off the Burma military from the revenue funding its abusive operations.    ·  Increase engagement and recognize the National Unity Government, ethnic resistance organizations, and leaders of the civil disobedience movement.   Additionally, BHRN calls on:   ·  ASEAN to coordinate strong action against the junta, block the junta from all its meetings, and support UN member states in enforcing sanctions and a global arms embargo against the junta.   ·  Neighbouring countries, including India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, to devise a comprehensive regional response to the refugee crisis, provide protection, support, and humanitarian and legal aid to all refugees fleeing Burma, and to authorize emergency cross-border aid to internally displaced persons in Burma.   ·  The UN Security Council (UNSC) to end its inaction and refer the situation in Burma to the International Criminal Court or establish a separate criminal tribunal to investigate and prosecute the full spectrum of atrocity crimes in Burma. The UNSC should also impose a binding global arms embargo including a prohibition on security assistance, the sale and transfer of arms, dual-use technology, and suspend the supply of aviation fuel.   ·  The international community to not recognise the pseudo-election that the junta plans to conduct in August this year. There must be recognition that the same junta that overthrew a Democratically elected government does not have any credibility to conduct the election.

 

Organisation’s Background BHRN is based in London, operates across Burma and works for human rights, minority rights and religious freedom in Burma. BHRN has played a crucial role advocating for human rights and religious freedom with politicians and world leaders.   Media Enquiries Please contact: Kyaw Win, Executive Director Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) E: kyawwin@bhrn.org.uk   T: +44(0) 740 345 2378