Fri 3 Nov 2006
Filed under: Inside Burma, News
Yangon: Pro-democracy activists in Myanmar on Friday urged the United Nations to consider their petition seeking the release of political prisoners, including Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
The activists say they have collected 530,000 signatures on their petition in a rare show of political dissent in the military-ruled nation.
The petition asks the military government to agree to talk to Aung San Suu Kyi’s political opposition, and to free her and the 1,100 other prisoners of conscience that are believed to be locked away here.
The campaign was organized by a group that calls itself the ‘88 Generation Students, led by former students who staged a pro-democracy uprising in 1988 that was brutally crushed by the military.
“Our government ignores the true desire of the people. It’s important to reveal their desires to people around the world and the United Nations. That’s why we urge the UN to think about what the people want,” said Kyaw Min Yu, better by known by his nickname Jimmy.
“Although the ‘88 Generation Student group proceeded with the signature campaign despite difficulties, the government tried to hide the true desire of the people and also coerced the people,” he said.
Kyaw Min Yu said that the group wants the United Nations to help create a meaningful dialogue between the government and Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
Her party won 1990 elections in a landslide victory, but the government didn’t recognized the result of 1990 election. Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the last 17 years under house arrest.
The government has accused the group of faking signatures on the petition, and says the group’s leaders want to incite unrest. Five leaders of the group were arrested in late September, prompting activists to launch the petition campaign.
A senior UN official, Ibrahim Gambari, is due to visit Myanmar next week. Officials here said he would meet with junta leader Than Shwe, but have not said if he would be allowed to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi as he did during his last visit in May.