Myanmar rulers
Photo: AFP
One fails to understand the illogical and irrational behaviour of Mynamar's military junta. In this hour of grave humanitarian crisis, they should have allowed unfettered inflow of foreign aid as the UN estimates that “rudimentary” aid so far has only managed to reach just 270,000 people. With the death toll, according to UN Assistant Secretary General Catherine Bragg, at 100,000 and with 2 million cyclone victims suffering from lack of access to food, shelter, clean drinking water, diseases (such as cholera, fever and other illnesses), the military regime must act in a much more responsive manner. They cannot afford to reject visas to disaster management experts and aid agency officials; they cannot rely on inefficient local aid distribution of their military workers and they cannot afford to store the aid in their airports for days and not distribute it. The international community is ready to help the disaster-struck people of Myanmar. So, based on humanitarian grounds, the military junta cannot ignore the assistance as already tens of thousands of people are at risk of starvation and disease and many lives can still be saved if aid reaches them in time. But the way the junta is behaving (holding the farcical referendum amidst all this) and still remaining firmly opposed to allow in aid, Thailand, India and China must try to persuade the generals to help the survivors of cyclone Nargis.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments