ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has hoped that all parties in Myanmar will exerciserestraint, uphold the rule of law, engage constructively and work towards apeaceful outcome.
Commenting on the situation in Myanmar, Foreign Office (FO) spokespersonZahid Hafeez Chaudhri said they are closely following the developmentsthere.
Earlier, Myanmar’s military seized power on Monday in a coup against thedemocratically elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whowas detained along with other leaders of her National League for Democracy(NLD) party in early morning raids.
The army said it had carried out the detentions in response to “electionfraud”, handing power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and imposing astate of emergency for one year, according to a statement on amilitary-owned television station. A military spokesman did not answerphone calls seeking further comment.
Phone lines to the capital Naypyitaw and the main commercial centre ofYangon were not reachable, and state TV went off air hours beforeparliament had been due to sit for the first time since the NLD’s landslideelection win in November, viewed as a referendum on Suu Kyi’s fledglingdemocratic government.
Soldiers took up positions at city hall in Yangon and mobile internet dataand phone services in the NLD stronghold were disrupted, residents said.Internet connectivity also had fallen dramatically, monitoring serviceNetBlocks said.
Suu Kyi, Myanmar President Win Myint and other NLD leaders had been “taken”in the early hours of the morning, NLD spokesman Myo Nyunt told Reuters byphone.
“I want to tell our people not to respond rashly and I want them to actaccording to the law,” he said, adding that he expected to be arrestedhimself. Reuters was subsequently unable to contact him.
The detentions came after days of escalating tension between the civiliangovernment and the military that stirred fears of a coup in the aftermathof the election.
The White House said President Joe Biden had been briefed on the arrest ofSuu Kyi.
“The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recentelections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition, and will take actionagainst those responsible if these steps are not reversed,” spokeswoman JenPsaki said in a statement.
The Australian government said it was “deeply concerned at reports theMyanmar military is once again seeking to seize control of Myanmar” andcalled for the immediate release of the unlawfully detained leaders.
Japan said it was watching the situation and currently had no plans torepatriate Japanese nationals from Myanmar.
COUP FEARS
Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, 75, came to power after a 2015 electionwin that followed decades of house arrest in a struggle for democracy withMyanmar’s junta that turned her into an international icon.
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Her international standing was damaged after hundreds of thousands ofRohingya fled army operations into refuge from Myanmar’s western Rakhinestate in 2017, but she remains hugely popular at home.
Political tensions soared last week when a military spokesman declined torule out a coup ahead of the new parliament convening on Monday, andmilitary chief Min Aung Hlaing raised the prospect of repealing theconstitution.
But the military appeared to backtrack on the weekend, issuing a statementon social media on Sunday saying it would “do everything possible to adhereto the democratic norms of free and fair elections”.
Tanks were deployed in some streets last week and pro-militarydemonstrations have taken place in some cities ahead of the first gatheringof parliament.
Myanmar’s election commission has rejected the military’s allegations ofvote fraud.
The constitution published in 2008 after decades of military rule reserves25% of seats in parliament for the military and control of three keyministries in Suu Kyi’s administration.
Daniel Russel, the top US diplomat for East Asia under President BarackObama, who fostered close ties with Suu Kyi, said another military takeoverin Myanmar would be a severe blow to democracy in the region.
“If true, this is a huge setback – not only for democracy in Myanmar, butfor US interests. It’s yet another reminder that the extended absence ofcredible and steady US engagement in the region has emboldenedanti-democratic forces,” he said.
Murray Hiebert, a Southeast Asia expert at Washington’s Center forStrategic and International Studies think tank, said the situation was achallenge for the new U.S. administration.
“The U.S. as recently as Friday had joined other nations in urging themilitary not to move forward on its coup threats. China will stand byMyanmar like it did when the military kicked out the Rohingya,” he said.
John Sifton, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said Myanmar’smilitary had never submitted to civilian rule and called on the UnitedStates and other countries to impose “strict and directed economicsanctions” on the military leadership and its economic interests.
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