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In an attempt by Myanmar’s military junta to maintain relations and for Min Aung Hlaing to save face with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), approximately 5,600 anti-regime prisoners were released. This comes after a coup d’état ousting the formerly elected democratic government earlier this year since February.
The former democratic government was ousted from local summits in the Southeast Asian region that opted to bypass the entirety of the coup military leadership.
Despite massively releasing political prisoners, Myanmar’s current leaders threaten to keep a firm grasp on their authority. They promise to force the released political prisoners to serve existing and new sentences if offensives are repeated.
Of course, comes after Min Aung Hlaing’s televised appearance commitment to “peace and democracy” after thousands of pro-democracy protestors were arrested for offenses against a military coup-d’etat after democratically elected members were forcefully removed from power.
ASEAN leadership has come up with a 5-point plan to establish democracy in Myanmar once again. However, the country’s military leadership has ignored the association’s strategy and plans to implement its own “5-point plan.” After the military government failed to adhere to ASEAN’s plan and found it difficult to communicate with the opposition, it barred Myanmar’s current regime.
Despite its preaching about pro-democracy, the regime has taken an active stance in agitating and creating circumstances that have created unrest.
“More violence happened due to provocations of terrorist groups,” the military leader appearing in civilian attire rather than his military uniform explained, according to Reuters. “No one cares about their violence, and is only demanding we solve the issue. ASEAN should work on that.”
Written by Skye Leon
Edited by Cathy Milne-Ware
Source:
NPR: Myanmar will release 5,600 anti-regime prisoners; by Scott Neuman
Featured and Top Image by KMK from Myanmar Courtesy of Wikimedia – Public Domain License
Inset Image by Trond Viken Courtesy of Utenriksdepartementet UD – Creative Commons License