Myanmar hopes political prisoners' release will encourage ceasefire

YANGON: In Myanmar, it is widely hoped that the release of more political prisoners will encourage ethnic armed groups to agree on a national ceasefire pact.

At a meeting of one of the biggest groups, scheduled for 30 October, representatives will discuss the possibility of signing a nation-wide ceasefire accord.

For its part, the Myanmar government has promised to release all political prisoners by the end of 2013.

In the latest round of negotiations, political party and civil society representatives met with government officials to discuss the release of another 37 such prisoners.

Aung Thein, deputy minister of the president's office, said: "We have to evaluate the civil societies' list of proposed political prisoners carefully. I have to submit the list of potential prisoners to be released at the next government meeting. Their release will depend on the president. We have to submit the list to the president and he'll decide the proper time to release them."

More Myanmar watchers are concluding that the nation's government will need to act quickly if it wants to put an end to the internecine conflict that is still hindering national reform.

Bo Kyi, joint secretary at the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, said: "This issue of the political prisoner is directly related with political freedom and national reconciliation. Many of the political prisoners are from members of ethnic armed forces. So as soon as they're released, then we can build national reconciliation as soon as possible."

Representatives have held about eight meetings since the beginning of this year to secure the release of political prisoners.

They are hoping all such prisoners will be released, before next year when Myanmar chairs the ASEAN Summit.

Sit Myaing, commissioner-secretary at Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, said: "This is our objective. How can we process all of the political prisoners so that they can be released? So we try our best. This is our objective. This meeting is part of the success and we have taken one step forward."

It is believed that Myanmar still has about 150 political prisoners still housed in lock-ups.

Aside from championing their release, civil society organisations are hoping that the government will address two outstanding issues.

One is to release these political prisoners unconditionally, without the ability to re-impose their original sentence on them.

The second is to classify the political prisoners differently from other offenders so that they do not end up with a criminal record for life. 

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/10/28/myanmar-hopes-political-prisoners-release-will-encourage-ceasefire/