Myanmar’s ruling party has called on the public to reject a military coup that began in the small hours of Monday morning with the arrest of the country’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Soldiers and tanks have been positioned in major cities and political leaders, who had gathered in the capital Naypyitaw for the start of a new parliament session, have been detained on mass.
Ms Aung’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party rejected the coup, as have several world powers and the UN secretary-general. The NLD issued a statement in Ms Aung’s name, which said that “the actions of the military are actions to put the country back under a dictatorship”.
“I urge people not to accept this, to respond and wholeheartedly to protest against the coup by the military,” the statement read.
The office of the UN secretary-general issued a statement condemning the developments as a “serious blow to democratic reforms” in Myanmar, which was ruled as a military dictatorship for decades until Ms Aung became State Counsellor – the de facto civilian leader of the government – in 2016.
Boris Johnson, in a tweet, said: “I condemn the coup and unlawful imprisonment of civilians, including Aung San Suu Kyi, in Myanmar. The vote of the people must be respected and civilian leaders released.”
The new US secretary of state Anthony Blinken issued a statement expressing “grave concern and alarm” over the reported detentions.
“We call on Burmese military leaders to release all government officials and civil society leaders and respect the will of the people of Burma as expressed in democratic elections,” he wrote, using Myanmar’s former name. “The US stands with the people of Burma in their aspirations for democracy, freedom, peace, and development.”
The developments on Monday followed days of concern about the threat of a military coup. The NLD said its statement condemning the coup had actually been prepared in anticipation of the move.
Tensions between the civilian government and the military have increased over the results of the elections in November, in which the NLD won a landslide victory and the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party won only 33 seats.
Earlier this week the army said a coup could not be ruled out if complaints of widespread voting fraud in the election were ignored.
Myanmar’s election commission went on to reject allegations that fraud played a significant role in the election.
Myanmar state television said on Facebook on Monday that it was unable to broadcast “due to communication problems”, while phone lines to the capital were not working.
The military ran Myanmar for nearly 50 years following a coup in 1962. Ms Aung was detained under house arrest for much of the period between 1989 and 2010 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her “non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights”.
Her international standing was damaged after her country’s brutal crackdown on the Rohingya minority in Rakhine state, but she remains hugely popular at home.
The NLD captured 396 out of 476 seats in the combined lower and upper houses of parliament in the November polls, but the military holds 25 per cent of the total seats under the 2008 military-drafted constitution and several key ministerial positions are also reserved for military appointees.
The military, known as the Tatmadaw, charged that there was massive voting fraud in the election, although it has failed to provide proof.
Myanmar’s military had said on Saturday it would protect and abide by the constitution and act according to law after comments earlier in the week, when a military official asked by a reporter refused to rule out the prospect of a coup, had raised alarm. The military also dismissed speculation about a coup as unspecified foreign meddling.
The military controls three key ministries in Ms Aung’s administration.
In December, she defended her country against a charge of genocide at the International Court of Justice, saying the situation there is “complex”.
Source- The independent and Agencies
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