19.11.2006
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What to do with the war criminals of the Myanmar’s regime?
_by Dr. Habib Siddiqui
[This is a follow-up discussion on Dr. Siddiqui’s previous article.]
I hinted in my previous article in the Burma Digest on what can be done about the SPDC junta, something that was also recognized by Tun Mahathir Muhammad of Malaysia, our options against the war criminals are very few as long as they are holding the power.
Commenting on my article, Myo Nyunt of the Myanmar Studies in Perth, Australia, has raised a very important issue: something that is hotly debated for the last few years, especially after the invasion of Iraq by the USA and the UK. Many human rights activists are of the opinion that the warlords of our world need to be tried for their crimes against humanity. A few years ago, therefore, there were cases filed in the European courts against some war criminals, including Ariel Sharon of Israel for the massacre of Palestinians in Sabra and Chatilla, Lebanon and Jenin, Palestine. Fearing their imminent arrest if they had stepped onto European soil, some of the Israeli generals did not disembark from their planes and returned to Israel.
Even the US Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld was sued a couple of years ago in Germany on similar charges, including crimes at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay Prisons, etc. The US law, however, makes its government officials and armed forces immune from being tried for war crimes in U.S. courts. Interestingly, among western countries, the USA is the only country that has not accepted the full jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to try its own war criminals, although, rather hypocritically, she has no problem having other monsters like the late Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia or Hutu leaders of Rwanda tried under the auspices of the ICJ.
As long as Rumsfeld was serving as the Secretary, German law could not do much to arresting him when he visited the German bases. But today, I heard in the National Public Radio that some cases have again been filed in Germany, including reviving old cases, to try Rumsfeld for war crimes. Those legal experts who filed the case believe that there is a fair chance of succeeding in bringing Rumsfeld and other Pentagon brasses to justice. The problem, however, is even if Rumsfeld and Co. are to be found guilty and condemned, the USA may not allow their extradition for hearing and subsequent imprisonment. The matter may eventually go to the UN, and I mean, the UNSC, the authority with biting powers. But there, the USA will veto such resolutions and will not allow her own criminals to be prosecuted. Nonetheless, such acts would further isolate the USA from the rest of the world and limit visits of war criminals to foreign countries.
The bottom line is: despots are not free and cannot feel secure as long as they are alive and outside the power grid. Their trial and prosecution is necessary to arrest the epitome of despotism that has stained human rights records in our world. They need to pay for their crimes eventually.
As I hinted in my article in the Burma Digest on what can be done about the SPDC junta, something that was also recognized by Tun Mahathir Muhammad of Malaysia, our options against the war criminals are very few as long as they are holding the power. The verdict in Baghdad against Saddam Hussein also does not allow them to relinquish that leash of power. A compromise is necessary where they will be promised to be unharmed provided they relinquish their grip of power peacefully to the elected reps of Burma. Without that mechanism in place, I am afraid the junta will stick to its grip, bringing more calamities to the people. Burma is not the Middle East for which American and Brit soldiers are willing to die for hegemony. So, the rules that apply for the Middle Eastern countries, unfortunately, do not apply to Burma in the dictionary of those who have the power to bring about that necessary change. They are hypocrites and war criminals themselves. What can we expect from them other than lies, deceptions and hypocrisy?
In spite of such grim realities, however, our struggle for freedom and human rights must go on unperturbed, for we are aspiring for a higher moral ground and we make no bones about our righteous cause.
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