INDIA:India to release Pakistan prisoners next week

Twentynine Pakistani prisoners and some fishermen lodged in Indian jails will be released by the government by April 15. In a similar gesture, Islamabad is expected to release nearly 100 Indian fishermen, who were arrested on different occasions for violating Pakistan’s maritime boundary. The step by both sides is a follow up to the recently concluded Home Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan and an attempt to give a fresh impetus to their bilateral relations. “We have decided to release those prisoners and fishermen who have completed their sentences,” a government official said. A complete list of all prisoners serving in each others’ custody will be exchanged by both sides on July 1. At the Home Secretary-level meeting, India and Pakistan had agreed that the problem and issues of the inadvertent crossers should be viewed sympathetically, and in a focused and sensitive manner. The Coast Guard of India and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) will soon jointly work on setting up a mechanism for release of fishermen, who inadvertently cross the maritime boundary, and their boats on the same lines as those who unknowingly do the same on land. There is a proposal to let off first-time offenders after warning them and taking their photographs and fingerprints. However, a decision in this regard is yet to be taken. Last Thursday, Pakistani authorities arrested 10 Indian fishermen for allegedly violating the country’s maritime boundary and also seized three boats. A total of 61 Indian fishermen were arrested by the PMSA for allegedly fishing in Pakistani waters last month. On April 7, Gopal Dass, who spent 27 years in a Pakistani jail after being convicted on charges of spying, returned home after Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari remitted his sentence on humanitarian grounds following an appeal by the Indian Supreme Court. Islamabad had recently repatriated 12 Indian prisoners, including 11 fishermen who had been held in a jail in Karachi for nearly three years even after completing their prison terms. Another 442 Indian fishermen were freed last year after two Pakistani NGOs petitioned the Supreme Court for their release. Pakistan and India arrest dozens of fishermen every year for violating their maritime boundary. Many of them languish in prison for years even after completing jail terms given to them. SOURCE

BANGKOK:UN chief urges Myanmar to free political prisoners

BANGKOK – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Myanmar's military government Tuesday to release political prisoners before upcoming elections, saying "it is not too late" to make the polls more fair and inclusive.
Myanmar's Nov. 7 elections will be the country's first in 20 years. The polls have widely been denounced as rigged to ensure that pro-military candidates will dominate. The country's leading opposition figure, Aung San Suu Kyi, is unable to seek office and remains detained, along with about 2,100 other political prisoners.
"We'll be expecting that this election will be a fair one, a credible one and an inclusive one," Ban told reporters in Bangkok at the start of a four-country Asian tour. "In that regard, it is not too late, even now, that by releasing the political detainees, they can make this election more inclusive and participatory."
The junta has ignored past U.N. demands to free political prisoners. Suu Kyi has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years.
"I do expect and hope this election to be an inclusive and transparent one," Ban said. "This will be a test of Myanmar's government, how they will be able to meet expectations of the international community."
The U.N. chief spoke after meeting with Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva in Bangkok. He flew later Tuesday to Cambodia. He was schdueled to attend a weekend summit of Asian leaders in Vietnam, followed by a trip to China.
Ban said he was looking forward to having "a very constructive dialogue" with Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein during a bilateral meeting at the summit in Hanoi.
About 1,000 police were mobilized in Bangkok for Ban's visit to prevent anti-government protesters who had threatened to mobilize. A small group protested outside the U.N. office but the rally was peaceful.
Thailand's army chief, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, warned so-called Red Shirt protesters who staged paralyzing protests earlier this year that rallies were "absolutely prohibited" during Ban's visit to avoid "embarrassing" Thailand.
At least 91 people died and 1,400 were injured in violence connected to protests that lasted from March through May, staged by Red Shirt protesters demanding Abhisit call early elections. The protesters blockaded Bangkok's commercial heart for weeks before the army moved in to clear the streets. Most of the casualties were protesters.
Human Rights Watch issued a statement urging Ban to use his Asian tour "to publicly address pressing human rights issues in the region."
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THAILAND:Former Political Prisoners Fear Repatriation

MAE SOT, Thailand—For six years, Thiha Yazar was isolated from the world in a prison cell in eastern Burma. The prison guards had been ordered not to communicate with him.
“The worst thing about that time was having no sense of the future or the past,” Thiha told The Irrawaddy. “I was completely alone and lost.”
The cell had one small window, and to keep himself from being too lonely, he would talk to birds. “I would ask them to go and say hello to my daughter for me.”
At night, he would talk to the moon and stars. “They kept me company; they were my only friends,” Thiha said.
Despite the isolation and depression he felt over the years, he doesn’t see that period of isolation as the worst part of the 18-years he spent in prison. The worst part was during the 25-day period when he was tortured following his role in a hunger strike over the lack of prison rights.
They stripped him and beat him till he couldn’t stand up any more. “The next day I woke up with bruises all over my body, but they propped me up and beat me again,” he said, still visibly shaken by the memory. “And the next day and the next, for 25 days—I thought I would die.”
Thiha’s story is one of thousands which have come out of Burmese prisons, where many political prisoners are tortured and denied basic prison rights. Their only crime, Thiha says, “is to fight for democracy, freedom and basic human rights in our country where the regime has denied the people everything.”
To raise awareness about the situation of political prisoners, Thiha has teamed up with Canadian journalist Paul Pickrem and written an account of his imprisonment. The book, “No Easy Road: A Burmese Political Prisoner’s Story,” chronicles his life growing up as the child of an army colonel, his sentence to death for high treason at the age of 25, and up until the time he fled to the Thai-Burma border.
“I want the international community to know about my life so people can better understand the situation for all political prisoners, and what our families go through,” he said.
When he went to prison, his daughter was three years old and on his release, she didn’t recognize him. “She said she knew I was her daddy but didn’t know who I was. Then she blamed me for her mother’s death.”
Her mother had a heart attack when his daughter was six years old. She had a bad heart, and Thiha believes the pressure of having her husband in prison was too much for her.
“It is not only my case, but all political prisoners. Our families are bullied and stigmatized by local pro-junta groups. It was too much for her.”
The book's release has coincided with the upcoming 2010 election, to be held on on Nov. 7. Like many political prisoners who have sought refuge on the Thai-Burma border, Thiha sees no hope for any real change after the election.
“If we get the rotten food in prison, and then they change the plate from a red plate to white plate, the food will still taste the same. It means, if the regime changes their clothes, it will still be a bad situation for our country,” he said.
“We can see that the generals are doing everything the way they want. How can we expect change when there are still 2,200 political prisoners inside prisons on Election Day?”
Bo Kyi, the joint secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), echoed the sentiment. “Now all the key political leaders are in prison, like Aung San Suu Kyi, Min Ko Naing and other ethnic leaders; as long as they are in prison there will be no national reconciliation process,” he said.
“People really trust those leaders. People really want them to lead the country so people will not want to vote. They will only vote because they are threatened by the USDP.
“If the regime really wanted a credible election, then they would release all political prisoners so they can be included in the national political process,” he said.
Bo Kyi said that he received messages from some of the student leaders inside prison, who have stated that they all reject the upcoming elections.
Although the regime offered them freedom if they publicly supported the election, they declared that they stood by the “Maubin Declaration,” an agreement between a group of student leaders that said they would not accept the elections unless all political prisoners are released.
There are currently nearly 2,200 political prisoners in Burmese prisons across the country. The AAPP says political prisoners are denied adequate medical treatment and placed in prisons far from their families as a form of psychological torture.

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