Burma Military Involved In Massive Rape And Discrimination, investigators claim
Worthy News Staff
RANGOON, BURMA (Worthy News)– United Nations officials on Saturday, May 23, remained concerned over the situation of Burma’s political prisoners, including detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as Christian rights investigators reported fresh evidence of “human rights violations” by the ruling military in the country.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) told BosNewsLife it just returned from a three-week trip to the region with the ‘Free Burma Rangers’ group to investigate widespread the Burma’s military involvement in widespread “rape, religious discrimination and land confiscation in Kachin State”, an area of the Kachin ethnic group, including many Christian believers.
In a detailed report of the visit to the Kachin, CSW quotes the testimony of a 21 year-old Bible school student who was “raped and strangled by two Burma Army soldiers.”
After describing her ordeal, the student told CSW she had heard that one of the soldiers had raped many girls, but had never been brought to justice. “Every woman should be careful. My experience is an example for other girls … I want justice to be done.”
REBEL GROUP
CSW said it also met representatives of the rebel Kachin Independence Organisation a day after the military government of Burma, also known as Myanmar, ordered it to surrender its arms and soldiers “to Burma Army control.”
In addition, CSw said met a Chin pastor, now in Malaysia, who “had been forced” by Burma’s military government to deliver a speech at a public rally “denouncing human rights campaigners and claiming to enjoy complete religious freedom.”
It comes at a time when observers said the military government is concerned about world opinion as the U.N. Security Council in a unanimous statement expressed concern about the “political impact” of the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi charging her with violating the terms of her house arrest.
Christians among the Karen, another ethnic group fighting for more autonomy and human rights, say they would accept Aung San Suu Kyi as Burma’s leader as she is seen as a voice of reconciliation, BosNewsLife learned.
BURMA DENIES
Burma’s foreign minister, Nyan Win, has denied allegations that the government had framed its case against Aung San Suu Kyi.
In an interview published Friday, May 22, in the state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar he suggested the incident could have been created by the opposition to attract international attention, the Voice of America (VOA) network reported.
Burmese authorities have accused Aung San Suu Kyi of violating the terms of her six-year house arrest for allowing American John Yettaw to stay at her house for two days after swimming to her lakeside residence on May 3.