YANGON – Myanmar’s ousted National League for Democracy party called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other detained leaders on Tuesday, describing the coup a day earlier as a “stain” on the military’s history.
Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader, was detained by the military in the early hours of yesterday along with President Win Myint.
The army installed an ex-general as president and handed “legislative, judicial and executive powers” to army chief Min Aung Hlaing – effectively returning the country to direct military rule after a 10-year experiment with democracy.
There has been no official news on Suu Kyi’s whereabouts since the takeover although party sources have told AFP they believe she is currently under “house arrest” in the capital Naypyidaw.
Today, her party called for the release of all those detained since the coup.
“Release all detainees including the president (Win Myint) and the State Counsellor (Suu Kyi),” the party said in a document posted on its official Facebook page.
It also demanded the military “recognise the confirmed result of the 2020 general election”.
“We see this (the coup) as a stain on the history of the State and the Tatmadaw,” it said, referring to the military by its Myanmar name.
The NLD swept the November polls with a landslide with voters delivering a drubbing to military-linked parties.
Since then, the military have alleged vote irregularities and demanded an investigation into voter lists.
The military justified yesterday’s coup on the grounds of the “failure of the free and fair electoral process”.
It imposed a one-year state of emergency, after which it said it will hold elections before returning the country back to a civilian government.
It remains unclear how many NLD members and MPs are detained, but mobile communications have been severed with many party members since yesterday.
Party sources say some 25 NLD MPs are currently confined to their resident dorms in Naypyidaw. – AFP, February 2, 2021
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