Canada revokes Suu Kyi's honorary citizenship
Ottawa, Oct 3 : Canada has formally stripped Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi of her honorary Canadian citizenship over her inaction on military violence against the countrys Rohingya Muslims.
Canadian Senators on Tuesday unanimously passed a measure revoking her citizenship and declaring the treatment of Rohingyas by Myanmar's government to be a genocide. The same actions were unanimously approved last week by the House of Commons, CBC News reported.
The honour was bestowed on Suu Kyi in 2007 for her pro-democracy campaign in Myanmar, where she spent 15 years under house arrest under the former military government. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991
Now, she has become the first person to have her honorary Canadian citizenship revoked.
The votes were prompted in part by a UN investigation that in August called for six top generals in Myanmar to be tried on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. It also found that Suu Kyi had failed in her duty to protect her own citizens.
More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh since August 2017, when Myanmar's Buddhist-majority security forces began a violent campaign in Rakhine state that included executions, gang rape and the burning of hundreds of villages. About 10,000 people have been killed, the UN said.
The UN fact-finding mission condemned Suu Kyi for failing to use her power or moral authority to stem or prevent the genocide and fulfil her responsibility to protect the civilian population.
Instead, civilian authorities spread false narratives, allowed hate speech to flourish and blocked independent investigations, the report said.
"Stripping her of her honorary citizenship may not make a tangible difference to her, but it sends an important symbolic message," said Senator Ratna Omidvar, who introduced the motion in the Canadian chamber.
"She has been complicit in stripping the citizenship and the security of thousands of Rohingya, which has led to their flight, their murder, their rapes and their current deplorable situation."
Omidvar also cited the imprisonment of two Reuters journalists who were reporting on the atrocities. Suu Kyi has defended the judge's verdict and sentence in that case.
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Rahul targets Jaishankar, says his silence is 'damning'
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday launched a fresh attack on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, saying his silence on the number of aircraft India "lost" after Pakistan was "informed" about the military action under Operation Sindoor is "damning".
The Congress leader had earlier also targeted the government on the issue, suggesting that the Indian side informed Pakistan ahead of the military strikes on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
"EAM Jaishankar's silence isn't just telling, it's damning. So I'll ask again: How many Indian aircraft did we lose because Pakistan knew?" he asked in a post on X.
"This wasn't a lapse. It was a crime. And the nation deserves the truth," Gandhi also said.
Gandhi had earlier shared an undated video clip of Jaishankar and wrote, "Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that GOI (government of India) did it."
"Who authorised it? How many aircraft did our air force lose as a result," the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha had asked.
The Ministry of External Affairs had described as "utter misrepresentation" claims that Jaishankar acknowledged that India alerted Pakistan before the launch of Operation Sindoor on May 7.
"The external affairs minister had stated that we had warned Pakistan at the start, which is clearly the early phase after Operation Sindoor's commencement," the external publicity (XP) division of the ministry said.
"This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out," it said in a brief statement.
Under Operation Sindoor, India, on early May 7, destroyed nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK) in retaliation against the Pahalgam terror attack.
All subsequent retaliations by Pakistan were carried out under the operation.
The two sides reached an understanding on cessation of hostilities on May 10 after four days of confrontations.
