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Dhaka: The Students and Youth Congress of Burma, a leading Burmese student group in exile, appealed to Indian Prime Minister H.E. Shri Manmohan Singh to release 34 Arakanese and KAren freedom fighters who have been detained in India since 1998.

The appeal was made by the student group based in Thailand on the 11th anniversary of the group's arrest by the Indian government. The 34 freedom fighter were arrested on 11 February, 1998.

In their appeal, the group said they would like to bring the attention of the Prime Minister to the situation of the 34 Burmese freedom fighters languishing in an Indian jail for the last 11 years. They also pointed out that Burma has been under military dictatorship for the past 47 years and any form of dissent against the military government are responded to in the most repressive and inhuman way.

Furthermore, they said that they were aware of India's support in the past for the Burmese people's movement for the restoration of democracy and appreciated the same. They urged the government of India to maintain the democratic values it stands for and live up to the trust and expectation of the people of Burma by restoring democracy, peace, and justice in Burma.

The group recalled that India was also the first neighboring country that extended support to the Burmese democracy movement after the 1988 uprising. India also recognized Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's peaceful and non-violent struggle and conferred the "Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding" upon her in 1993.

The leaders of the group of detained freedom fighters were also in negotiation with the government of India through Lt. Col. V.J.S Grewal for a base in India in 1995, and after two years of negotiations they were invited to come to Landfall Island in Andaman. However, upon their arrival on Landfall Island on 10 February, 1998, 36 of the Burmese freedom fighter were arrested and six were assassinated.

Of the 36 initially arrested, two went missing from the Andaman Jail. The others were kept for nine years in Port Blair and later transferred to Presidency Jail in Kolkata, where they continue to be imprisoned.

The student group appealed to the Indian government to immediately release the 34 Burmese freedom fighters from jail and allow them to seek asylum in India, and to pressure the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to grant the 34 Burmese freedom fighters refugee status immediately.