The Burmese government yesterday warned pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to “end political activities,” in aletter addressed to her and the chairman of her political party, the NationalLeague for Democracy (NLD).
The government disbanded the NLD as a political groupbecause it refused to participate in last year’s elections. The government is now saying that since theNLD has been disbanded, it needs to re-register as a social organization. TheNLD had claimed that the elections would be unfair and refused to bringlegitimacy to process by fielding candidates. Their suspicions were based onpast experience, in 1990, the NLD won a majority of the vote, but the incumbentjunta refused to give up power and cancelled the results.
The Burmese governmentclaims it is on the road to democracy, but its actions have not backed thisclaim. Their recent harassment of the biggest pro-democracy party is yetanother indication that the new government continues to embrace policies of thepast.
PHR urges the international community to continue support forpro-democracy movements in Burma and to maintain pressure on the Burmesegovernment to act in accordance with its pro-democracy words.