Myanmar has released more than 300 people deemed by the
opposition to be political prisoners, a minister said Saturday, after the West
hailed the move as a substantial sign of reform.

Myanmar has released more than 300 people deemed by the opposition to be
political prisoners, a minister said Saturday, after the West hailed the move as
a substantial sign of reform.

Home Affairs Minister Lieutenant General Ko Ko insisted however that none of
them had been jailed for political reasons, saying: “We didn’t take action
against anyone because of politics or beliefs.”

The amnesty was hailed on Friday by Western powers, which have long demanded
the release of political detainees before they will consider lifting sanctions,
and the United States now says it wants to restore top-level diplomatic
ties.

About 650 inmates were freed in total in the amnesty, including leading
pro-democracy dissidents who were at the forefront of a failed 1988 uprising in
which thousands died, and participants in 2007′s “Saffron Revolution”
protests.

Ko Ko told reporters that 302 of those released were on a list of political
prisoners compiled by a political group inside Myanmar, thought to be the
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).

He said another 128 remained on the list who could not be released for
security reasons as they had committed serious crimes.

“This release was not according to the demand of any person or any
organization. We released them according to the true benevolence of the
government,” Ko Ko said.

About 200 political detainees were freed in October, and estimates of the
number left in prison after that amnesty ranged from 500 to more than 1,500.

About another 100 of those released in Friday’s amnesty were former members
of the intelligence service, Ko Ko said.

Among them was Khin Nyunt, a former prime minister and intelligence chief who
was ousted in 2004 in a power struggle and placed under house arrest.

US President Barack Obama said the amnesty was a “substantial step” towards
democracy in a country ruled for decades by the military, while the NLD, headed
by democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, hailed it as a “positive sign”.

The nominally civilian government that came to power last year in Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma, has surprised even sceptics with a series of reformist
moves.

It froze work on an unpopular dam supported by powerful neighbour China last
year, and on Thursday signed a ceasefire with a major armed ethnic Karen group
involved in one of the world’s longest-running civil conflicts.

The country recently announced plans to hold by-elections on April 1 and Suu
Kyi — released from years of house arrest in November 2010 — plans to stand
for a seat in parliament in a constituency near the main city Yangon.

The 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner said earlier this week that her
country was “on the verge of a breakthrough to democracy”.

source: http://news.malaysia.msn.com/top-stories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5764047

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May the people of this country have peace, happiness and health. Tsem Rinpoche