A group of eight youth activists handedover memorandum today at US Embassy with demand of release of Manning, a whistleblower who get sentenced of 35 years jail by US court for his role in passing classified information of US army to Wikileaks.
Members includes Ravi Nitesh, V Arun Kumar, Manoranjan, Prashant Nautiyal, Soumya Prakash, Kaashif Ahmed Faraz, Harsh Tomar and Haseeb Mutafa Alvi.
Demand to release Manning was supported by various civil rights group as well and was endorsed by many activists.
Memorandum:
MEMORANDUM
August 28, 2013
To,
President of United States of America,
Through: US Ambassador in India,
US Embassy, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi
SUB: Demand to Release Manning from Jail and to protect whistleblowers
Dear Sir,
We, the citizens of India, are concerned on the issue of Bradley/Chelsea Manning where Hon’ble US court sentenced him to 35 years of jail for being convicted on cases where he found guilty of passing information to Wikileaks about the activites of US security force that included ‘killing of innocent people’ and instead of apologizing for this inhumane act, the tendency to hide it in the veil of ‘national security’.
It is observed and reported by media also that sentence is more severe than observer expected and also that much longer than any punishment given to any previous US government leaker. The charges framed against him such as ‘aiding to enemy’ cannot be told true as Manning stood against inhumanity without any motive of helping ‘anti-human forces’. It is ironic but true that soldiers who killed and tortured innocent civilians have not been received any such harsh punishment that a soldier who shared information about these killings and torture. It must be understood that share information with press in public interest is in fact fruitful and necessary for democratic accountability, hiding them and punishing such acts will only reflect the weakening of democratic values and selfish effort of state.
Though, even Manning accepted that it was violation of guidelines as per security rules, but it was done largely for the welfare of the people with the true spirit of humanity. In a statement, Manning told I understand that my actions violated the law, and I regret if my actions hurt anyone or harmed the United States. It was never my intention to hurt anyone. I only wanted to help people. When I chose to disclose classified information, I did so out of a love for my country and a sense of duty to others.
Though, with the distance, we are away from US, but with the interconnection through various linkages and with the development of modern communication systems, we all have become connected with each other’s progress and challenges. At a time, when your president is Nobel peace prize awardee, at a time when your country speaks in almost all cases of human rights violations throughout the world and at a time when you know that your actions and policies will definitely affect many other countries and people; it is really unfortunate to see your recent actions against followers of truth in your country. Julian Assange, Snowden and now Manning are the best examples of that.
In India, though we accept that we are fighting for protection of whistleblowers here as well and we also have examples where whistleblowers even murdered. We feel the same pain for Manning too and we believe that whistleblowers must be protected, their courage and determination for truth and humanity must be respected.
You very well know that many organizations and individuals are standing with Manning. Manning received worldwide support for the cause of humanity and in no case you can blame all of us with the same charge ‘aiding to enemy’ . We believe that you will also must stand for Manning. We are happy to see the support and favor from various activists, nobel prize winners, ,Press freedom groups and civil liberties campaigners.
We, concerned citizens of India, request your government to release Manning from jail. We request you with the right of interconnection that we have with you, we request you with the right of being human, we request you with the right of followers of truth.
We, hereby extend our support to Manning and urge you to sincerely consider the request to release Manning and to set an example before the world, that will be followed by many others as well and then, in totality it will only benefit the values of truth and humanity at large.
Endorsed by:
Ravi Nitesh (Mission Bhartiyam)
V Arun (AISA)
Haseeb Mutafa Alvi
Manoranjan (South Asian University)
Kaashif Ahmed Faraz (Chhatra-Vimarsh)
Soumya Prakash
Prashant Nautiyal (Mission Bhartiyam)
Harsh Tomar (Delhi University)
Devika mittal (Mission Bhartiyam)
Kumar Sundaram (Coalition of Nuclear Disarmament and Peace)
Kumar Sundaram (Coalition of Nuclear Disarmament and Peace)
Talha Huseyn (National Treasurer- CFI)
Ashok Chaudhary (All India Union of Forest Working People)
Ashim Jain (Indian Community Activists Network)
Md. Tanveer (Okhla Post)
Md. Tanveer (Okhla Post)
Subash Mohapatra (Indian Community Activists Network)
Dr. Sandeep Pandey (Founder-Asha, Megsesey awardee)
Subhashini Ali (President-All India Democratic Women’s Association)
Kavita Srivastava (General Secretary- People’s Union for Civil Liberties – PUCL)
Abdul Sami Zhman (Founder-Cooperation for Peace & Development-Afghanistan)
Zaid Kamal
Dr. Rehan Gul (Aligarh muslim University)
Maisanam Arnapal (Delhi University)
Majid Khan (Mumbai University)
And Many others