Time to stop Abe's evil game

Allowing Japanese PM to revise pacifist Constitution will help revive militarism and harm the cause of peace in Asia-Pacific

In his written statement justifying his visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, Abe has said he prayed "for the souls of all those who fought for the country and made ultimate sacrifices" and "for the souls of all the people regardless of nationalities who lost their lives in the war". He refuses to differentiate between the dead. But differentiating between groups, between good and evil, convicting the criminals and punishing the culprits are the basic tenets of international justice - the last resort of humanity against savagery.

Abe does not say that enshrined at Yasukuni are 14 Class-A, and thousands of Class-B and Class-C war criminals who were responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people of Japan and other countries. Among the 14 Class-A war criminals were chief allies of Adolf Hitler, masterminds of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, and generals behind the Nanjing Massacre, Yangon slaughter and the razing of Manila. But the shrine's museum lectures visitors that Japan was "forced into war" by the United States, and Japanese soldiers throughout Asia waged an "honorable campaign" to "free Asia from white Europeans".