U.N. INFORMS BRUTAL SYRIAN REPRESSION

UN REPORT CONDEMNS BRUTAL  
SUPPRESSION OF SYRIA UNREST

(RTTNews) - A U.N. report accuses the Syrian government of resorting to executions, mass arrests and torture to suppress the cureent popular unrest against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad in the Middle East country.  “The most egregious reports concern the use of live ammunition against unarmed civilians, including from snipers positioned on rooftops of public buildings and the deployment of tanks in areas densely populated by civilians,” said the report released by the United Nations Human Rights office on Wednesday.   Citing “excessive use of force in quelling demonstrators, arbitrary detentions, summary executions, torture,” the report said some 1,100 Syrians had been killed and over 10,000 others detained in brutal security crackdowns.  The report informs that “Syrian security forces have perpetrated acts of torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment against demonstrators, resulting in deaths in custody in some cases.”

The report was based on evidence collected by U.N. investigators from activists, media, various rights groups and thousands of Syrians who fled the Arab country to Turkey to escape security crackdowns.  The popular unrest which began in March last is seen as the most serious challenge to Assad’s rule since he came to power eleven years ago on the death of his father Hafez al-Assad who ruled the country for three decades.  Despite granting concessions like general amnesty to political prisoners, the Syrian government continues with its brutal crackdowns in towns and cities across Syria, using hundreds of troops and military tanks.

Syrian security forces have used executions, mass arrests and torture to repress pro-democracy protests, the U.N. human rights office said on Wednesday, in a report that could add to calls for a stronger global response.  More than 1,100 people are believed to have been killed, many of them unarmed civilians, and up to 10,000 detained since the crackdown by President Bashar al-Assad began in mid-March.  Popular discontent has spread to many countries and against different types of government.  Society needs virtuous and God-conscious leaders. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

When a Vaishnava king like Dhruva Mahārāja is the head of the government of the entire world, the world is so happy that it is not possible to imagine or describe.  Even now, if people would all become Krishna conscious, the democratic government of the present day would be exactly like the kingdom of heaven.  The youthful generation of the present day is very enthusiastic in trying to overthrow the government in different parts of the world. But unless people are Krishna conscious like Dhruva Mahārāja, there will be no appreciable changes in government because people who hanker to attain political position by hook or by crook cannot think of the welfare of the people. They are only busy to keep their position of prestige and monetary gain. They have very little time to think of the welfare of the citizens.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
Śrīmad Bhāgavatam - Canto 4: “Creation of the Fourth Order”  
Chapter 9: “Dhruva Mahārāja Returns Home” 
Verse 66. - Bhaktivedanta VedaBase