Dear Editor,
One can understand the stupefaction of Guyanese at the recent motion tabled in Parliament to honour former MP Abdul Kadir (born Michael Seaforth), a convicted terrorist, who died last year while still serving a life sentence.
Members of the Diplomatic Corps and international donors supporting human rights and democracy, should take note that the Government of Guyana is formally honouring a man, who would have taken the lives of innocent people, had his plots not been foiled.
The gravity of his deeds cannot be attenuated by his tenure in Parliament which, in any case, has had no proven significant impact on Guyana’s development. Giving glory to a terrorist is a strident insult to international peace processes, to hundreds of thousands of victims who died in decades of ideological conflicts, and, to the very notion of democracy. It is a long stride backward, which should not be con-doned by anyone who purports to believe in and contribute to peace and democracy.
It is incredible that after the Easter bombings in Egypt and Sri Lanka, which cost too many innocent lives, this Government, which so enjoys invoking God in Parliament, proceeds to celebrate the life of a terrorist.
Once would therefore not be surprised if Guyana slides even further down the next international democracy index ranking, in a troubling global context of shrinking space for human rights and democracy.
Yours faithfully,
Anna Correia de Sá
