Cyclone relief hit by politics IT is a matter of great relief that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has succeeded in persuading the military junta to allow foreign aid workers to provide relief to the desperate survivors of the cyclone Nargis. At least, 1.33 lakh people are feared killed or missing in the calamity that destroyed the entire Irrawaddy river delta on May 2. Many lives could have been saved if the international aid agencies had been allowed easy access to the affected areas. Even now it is difficult to believe that the regime, which is deeply suspicious of the outside world, will not put obstacles in the way of relief operations. The UN chief's claim of the top general of Myanmar, Gen Than Shwe, having agreed "to allow all aid workers, irrespective of their nationalities' to the devastated delta has not been confirmed by anyone representing the military rulers. However, the UN chief's mission holds out the hope that the military junta will now keep politics aside and accept with open arms the foreign assistance necessary for effective relief. US ships loaded with relief material have been waiting for clearance for many days without success. Relief supplies should be allowed to come in from all sources, particularly when there are no strings attached. In the absence of full-scale relief operations, the situation appears hapless in the entire delta area. The attitude of the ruling generals has not been humane. The Myanmarese regime has been refusing visas for foreign disaster management experts, whose help could have definitely alleviated the misery of the cyclone victims. On May 24, the regime even went ahead with holding the referendum on the new constitution which is believed to be a ploy for perpetuating the military dictatorship. The scale of devastation required the regime to postpone the referendum regardless of its objective. At a time of such crisis, all the resources available should be used to save the cyclone-hit, who are suffering from disease, hunger, lack of water and shelter, etc. It is a pity that relief has reached hardly 50,000 of the 2.4 million victims after more than three weeks.