Sunday Times 2
No rice from starving Myanmar, please!
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Police march with a resident arrested during a crackdown on protesters holding rallies against the military coup in Yangon. AFP file pic
Some media reports have said that Sri Lanka is to meet the shortage of rice production in the country with purchases of rice from Myanmar. If this happens it will be a crime committed by this country against the 50 million Buddhists of Myanmar to cover up the folly of our Sinhala Buddhist leaders.
The world is aware of the slaughter of men, women and children of Myanmar by its army since the people came on to the streets to protest against the Army for staging a coup d’etat and jailing the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) Aung San Suu Kyi and her party leaders who had swept the polls and was to be sworn in as the country’s leaders on the day the coup was staged.
Two weeks ago, Suu Kyi was sentenced to two years imprisonment. She faces many other charges and if found guilty by a court to which the public has no access to, the76-year-old woman could be imprisoned for another 100 years, analysts have said.
Myanmar is in absolute turmoil, according to reports including those of the United Nations.
On November 15, all 15 members of the UN Security Council expressed deep concern over increasing violence across Myanmar and called for an immediate end to fighting and that the military exercise utmost restraint.
Latest reports indicate that unarmed civilians are challenging the armed forces on the ground. These reports say the military is deploying helicopters and even jet fighters to fire on villages considered centers of resistance. An AFP report said that according to eyewitnesses the military used helicopters to fire on a village of 6000 people in one village. In one such massacre two of the bodies found were those of members of the anti-coup self-defence forces while the rest were those of civilian including children.
Last week around 600 Myanmar rebel fighters crossed the border into neighboring Thailand but were persuaded to return by the Thai government which too is under military control. The brave young people of Myanmar, the Burmeseas they are known, are standing up to the thugs in Khaki who have been suppressing them ever since Gen. Ne Win staged a coup d’etat in 1962 and subsequent military rulers have taken over power like succeeding monarchs.
Despite a raging Covid epidemic, young Burmese have been demanding the end to military rule carrying the picture of the only person, a woman who had been able resist the oppressors though spending most of her recent life– over 20 years — under house arrest.
Sri Lanka’s leadership which won two elections to safeguard Sinhala Buddhists have not shown any concern with the fate of 55 million people of Myanmar of whom 94 percent are Thervada Buddhists like in this country. Lanka has had long historic ties with Burma than perhaps any other country. Yet, in their most tragic moment, the Buddhist government and Buddhist people have not even lifted a finger to support the Burmese Buddhists.
Mahinda Rajapaksa takes great pride in being the founder of the Sri Lanka Palestine Association for solidarity with Palestine. He donated $(US) 1 million to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas at the 69th sessions of the UN General Assembly in 2014. But Buddhists who often threaten to shed their last drop of blood to safeguard Buddhism are not shedding even a tear for the Burmese Buddhists.
If Sri Lanka hands over its hard currency to the Burmese military oppressors under severe financial constraints like us to buy weapons to slaughter unarmed civilians, we will be doing a grave injustice if not a crime against the Burmese people, Buddhists, democracy and humanity.