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25/12/2020

33

Prison life, a great leveller: Stan

Swamy shares a poem from jail

Jesuit Priest Father Stan Swamy (83)

writes he’s pained to see so many young

inmates in Taloja Jail, shares a christmas

message of compassion

Jesuit Priest Father Stan Swamy, the

83-year-old human rights defender, who

is lodged in Taloja Jail, has written a

short poem in his latest communication

from jail. As he prepares to spend

Christmas in jail, instead with his

beloved tribal community and his colleagues

back home in Ranchi, Swamy

shares thoughts on equality, compassion,

and even of oneness with nature,

that is perhaps what most inmates hold

on to as they await justice.

The oldest person to be questioned

and arrested in the Elgar Parishad case,

Fr Stan Swamy, was sent to judicial custody

by a Special National Investigation

Agency (NIA) court. The well known

tribal rights activist and educator was

arrested by the NIA from his home in

Bagaicha in Ranchi, at night on October

Shahjahanpur (Uttar Pradesh) Dec 24

(IANS) The prison authorities in Uttar

Pradesh have ordered a probe into allegations

that an event at the district jail here

"glorified" godman Asaram, who is serving

a sentence for rape. The rape victim's

father made the allegations following

reports that the self-styled godman's two

followers had come from Lucknow to the

Shahjahanpur jail on Tuesday and distributed

blankets and held a prayer meeting

in which Asaram's photograph was

placed. The rape victim's father lodged a

complaint saying that Asaram was "glorified"

at the "satsang" (prayer meeting)

held in the prison. "Asaram's followers

are doing this to refurbish the image of a

rape convict," he had said demanding a

probe. Uttar Pradesh Additional Inspector

General (Jail) Sharad Kulshrestha has

now ordered a probe which will be conducted

by the deputy inspector general for

Bareilly zone. Shahjahanpur District

Magistrate Indra Vikram Singh said a

8. Frail and aged, was then taken at

dawn on October 9, by the 9.30 A.M

flight from Ranchi to Mumbai for a

hearing at the Sessions court and the

charge sheet was filed.

Fr. Swamy has been lodged in Taloja

Jail since then. He suffers from

Parkinson’s disease, which makes it difficult

for him to even hold a cup or a

glass to drink water. He had to move

court to be provided a straw or sipper

for this purpose, but the National

Investigative Agency (NIA) was given

20 days to respond to the request. It took

immense public pressure for his old sipper

to be handed to him, many weeks

after his request.

For Christmas 2020, the Jesuit Priest

who had jumped the walls of the Church

to serve the Jharkandi people, continues

to hope for a just and wual world.

Prison life is a great leveler, Fr Stan

recently wrote from his prison cell. This

poem encapsulates his thoughts this Christmas… Meanwhile, the St Peter’s unit of the Bombay Catholic Sabha

Probe ordered into prayer

meeting for Asaram in UP jail

notice has been issued to the jail administration,

taking note of news reports and

action will be taken after the reply is

received. Asaram was convicted in April

2018 of raping a Shahjahanpur girl at his

ashram near Jodhpur in 2013.

He was arrested by the Jodhpur Police

in August 2013 and has been in jail since

then. Earlier, Shahjahanpur Jail superintendent

Rakesh Kumar confirmed the distribution

of 75 blankets in the jail.

According to another version, the blankets

were distributed by Arjun and Narain

Pandey, who were earlier lodged in the

Shahjahanpur jail after being arrested for

allegedly killing a witness in a rape case.

The jail superintendent said Pandey had

fallen ill and got well after being treated at

the prison hospital. When he was released

on bail, he pledged to distribute blankets

in the jail. "They had sent the blankets,

which were distributed in the jail. The

allegation of "glorification" and a "satsang"

inside the jail is baseless," he said.

Yangon : The Myanmar peace

process is expected to move forward

in 2021 after the general elections held

in November this year gave the ruling

National League for Democracy

(NLD) party a new mandate to rule the

country, according to officials and

experts. The general elections were

held on Novemver 8 and the ruling

NLD secured more than enough parliamentary

seats needed for its next

five-year term, reports Xinhua news

agency. This year's multi-party general

elections were the third of its kind held

in accordance with Constitution.

The next parliamentary session is

scheduled to open in the first week of

February 2021.

With a new term of the NLD government,

it is expected that more productive

political dialogues will be seen

between the government, military,

armed ethnic groups and relevant figures

to reinvigorate the peace process

in the Southeast Asian country.

Following the elections, the military

formed the Peace Talks

Committee to continue talks with

National Ceasefire Agreement (NCA)

signatories and armed ethnic groups to

facilitate the peace process.

The committee would also work to

increase dialogues with non-signatories

towards achieving a lasting peace

in Myanmar. Meanwhile, the NLD

also set up a committee for talks with

ethnic political parties this month,

Myo Nyunt, NLD's central executive

committee member, told Xinhua.

The ruling party sent an open letter

to 48 ethnic political parties on

November 12, pledging to prioritise

demands of ethnic groups in its consideration

in the future as it has similar

goals with the parties. It said in the letter

that it will continue the work to

establish a democratic federal union

while urging joint efforts from the ethnic

political parties. In August this

year, peace makers signed Union

Accord III, which included matters on

the NCA and principle guidelines for

establishing a democratic federal

union. So far, 10 armed ethnic groups

have signed the NCA with the government

since it was initiated in October

2015. After that, peace conferences

were held in August 2016, May 2017,

July 2018 and August 2020.

Myo Nyunt said that they expect

more significant improvements in the

peace process in the post-2020 period,

compared to the previous five-year

government term. "Sustainable peace

is what we want and we believe that

there will be positive outcomes along

the journey of peace process in the

future as we have managed to signed

three parts of the Union Accord after

holding peace conferences for four

times," he said, who also called on

people from all walks of life in

Myanmar to contribute to the peace

process. Saw Mra Yarzar Lin, deputy

leader of Arakan Liberation Party

(BCS) has sent out an invitation to

everyone to join in a symbolic gesture

“to consider dispelling the darkness of

injustice via the light of our Christmas

Stars that we hang out this year.”

“Star for Stan” is the theme chosen

by the parish team, a way of letting the

Christmas stars that hang outside homes

to celebrate the festive season, “speak

out for Fr Stan and the others like him

who are languishing in jail.” The BCS

has asked everyone to title their themes

along similar lines and then design their

own Christmas star: “Stars Behind

Bars” and “Stan our Star” were popular

suggestions, “let your design show that

‘stars’ can be jailed but starlight cannot,”

stated the BCS in its message.

“Use your imagination and spread

the Light of Truth. Let us banish darkness

and injustice.

Let the Winner be Light & Justice,”

added the BCS.

Courtesy : Sabrang

Myanmar peace process expected

to move forward in 2021

(ALP), an NCA participant, said: "We

strongly believe that adoption of federal

system is needed to end internal

conflicts which started in the country

since its gaining independence in

1948. "It is important to convince and

bring the non-signatories to the political

negotiation table to join the NCA

as it is not enough only with the 10

signatories for the peace process to

make progress." She said the party,

along with other armed ethnic groups,

will work with the government to push

the peace process, and it is confident

that progress will be made under the

next term of the NLD government.

"Close collaboration between the

government, military and ethnic armed

groups can help consolidate the peace

process," said U Khin Maung Lynn,

joint secretary of Myanmar Institute of

Strategic and International Studies

(MISIS). The peace process is expected

to move forward under the new term of

the NLD government as the election

outcomes showed the trust and confidence

by the Myanmar people including

ethnic groups, the political expert said.

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