Dear Friends, If you are in agreement with the contents of this letter please mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with your endorsement ASAP. Endorsements can be organisational or individual.
Thanks for your response. Best wishes, Anivar Aravind -----Original Message----- From: Souparna Lahiri [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 19 September 2006 13:50 Dear Friends: Please find below a draft protest letter to our Prime Minister. Please send your endorsements by 3 pm tomorow with your suggestions, corrections and modifications. Souparna To September 19, 2006 Dr. Manmohan Singh Prime Minister of India South Block New Delhi Subject: Illegal detention and ill-treatment of Indian civil society representatives by the Singapore Government Dear Dr. Manmohan Singh: You must be aware that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are having their Annual Meetings in Singapore between September 14 and 20, 2006. Several civil society representatives from around the world had been accredited by the World Bank to participate in these meetings. As the Singapore Government undemocratically banned protest meetings on their soil, the International Peoples' Forum (IPF), a platform of more than 100 civil society groups decided to organize peaceful protest meetings against the policies of the World Bank and the IMF in Batam, Indonesia, a 30 minutes ferry ride from Singapore. While the events in Batam, which ended yesterday, successfully demonstrated to the world that many diverse civil society organisations and social movements can organize a protest meet in peace and unity, the Singapore Government, aided and abetted by the World Bank and the IMF, imposed totally unwarranted, undemocratic and draconian measures to stifle protests against the World Bank and the IMF. Firstly, they blacklisted 27 accredited civil society participants from entering Singapore. According to a communication sent out by the World Bank-IMF staff quoting Mr. Goh Chye Boon, the Co-Chair of the Organising Committee for the Singapore 2006 Annual Meetings, the Singapore Government objected to the attendance of the above participants "based on security and law and order considerations". They were barred from entering Singapore and if allowed entry at all would not be given access in to the Annual Meetings Venue. Secondly, at least 54 other individuals from 17 organisations transiting through Singapore on their way to Batam, Indonesia, were detained at the Singapore airport without explanation, subjected to custodial interrogation and utmost humiliation, and deported back to their country of origin. Till yesterday night, many more participants, on their way back from Batam, faced problems upon re-entering Singapore, were detained for hours and interrogated. Regrettably, many Indian participants from various civil society organisations and social movements were victims to these illegal and highly objectionable acts of the Singapore Government. The blacklist prepared by the Singapore Government includes Ms. Shalmali Guttal, an Indian, working with the policy analysis NGO, Focus on the Global South. Though she was accredited by the World Bank-IMF to attend their Annual Meetings in Singapore and had a valid visa to enter Singapore, she was communicated by the World Bank-IMF and not the Government of Singapore, on September 8, 2006 that she is barred from entering Singapore and participating in the Annual Meetings. Shalmali Guttal has already written to the Ministers Anand Sharma and E Ahamed at the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, requesting that they 'take up the matter urgently with the Singapore Government, the World Bank and the IMF and urged the Indian Government to lodge a formal protest in this regard. While the Singapore Government has neither provided any acceptable explanation for putting up such a blacklist and blocking participation in the Annual Meetings, nor have they notified the blacklisted persons that they will not be allowed to enter Singapore, your UPA Government and the Ministry of External Affairs have not taken any action so far. The Ministry has not responded to Ms. Guttal's letter also. Mr. Wilfred D' Costa, the General Secretary of INSAF, Mr. K Raghu and Mr. Biswaranjan Mishra, both representing the National Confederation of Officers' Association (NCOA) were detained at the Singapore airport while on transit to Batam, Indonesia. Mr. D' Costa was detained for 12 hours and Mr. Raghu and Mr. Mishra were detained for 38 hours, subjected to intense and humiliating interrogation, and deported back to India after being finger printed and photographed like criminals. They were not allowed to speak to anyone or make a phone call. Neither was the Indian Embassy informed about the detention. Yesterday, on September 18, 2006, three Indian representatives of National Centre for Labour (NCL) including N P Sami and Dr. Sarat Babu were detained at the Singapore ferry station while coming back from Batam, Indonesia, on their way home. Till late evening they were not released. Mr. Virendra Kumar from Delhi was similarly subjected to detention and interrogation for more than 2 hours at the ferry station. We are concerned at these developments since this has become a familiar pattern where institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO and the Asian Development Bank, in collusion with governments, manage to trample on democracy and human rights wherever they go. Your own UPA government along with the State Government of Andhra Pradesh were in May, this year, responsible for banning a film festival and protests at the venue of the ADB's Annual Governors' Meeting in Hyderabad! We, the undersigned, strongly demand that our government lodges a formal protest with the Government of Singapore against the detention of Indian citizens as detailed above and conduct an enquiry in to these incidents followed up by appropriate steps to protect the democratic rights of the citizens of this country. We also urge you to look in to the role played by the World Bank and the IMF in abetting the Singapore Government to create a climate of siege and stifle peaceful and rightful protest actions. Endorsements Name and Organisation Souparna Lahiri For Peoples Forum against ADB --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala run by Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA) To post to this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
Statement from Indian groups.doc
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