Myanmar has been devastated by Nargis....Over 100000 dead/missing....Townships & villages erased altogether....What do you think an impoverished nation that is incapable of handling a catastrophe of this scale should do?....Appeal for international assistance & aid.....Normally, under these circumstances the allegations that would be aired would be of the nature that Not enough is being done, that urgent help is needed....that a few more bags of rations could make the difference between life & death....so on & so forth....
Yet, what do you hear when you turn the television on?....Myanmar has categorically refused to allow airplanes carrying aid from landing in its territory...that the UN has been told not to help....100000 people dead or missing....lakhs rendered homeless....huge threat of epidemics...And Myanmar, of all the nations of the world, is REFUSING aid...Even India accepted foreign aid at the time of Gujarat Earthquake, although it could've dealt with the tragedy on its own...
And thats not it....the junta has ordered a referendum on proposed cobstitutional reforms that would lead to democracy by 2010....One can understand the fear of the Americans overthrowing the regime & hence the refusal to accept aid, but the referendum???
Thousands more would still die & the UN& the Myanmarese government would only be excahnging allegations....Innumerable wars in the name of territory, resources, Perceived threat....But no action on humanitarian grounds??....
What is the whole point of having international co-operation bodies like the UN, the ASEAN, for that matter even the SAARC....Are they more forums to discuss politics and make deals??....
The burmese people deserve a change...God-willing, this catastrophe will be the harbinger of a better future.....
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