New Delhi — Burma's military rulers have detained at least 900 activists and dissidents in the past 10 months, in addition to the over 1,000 prisoners of conscience that it arrested since it brutally cracked down on a popular uprising in August 8, 1988, Amnesty International said.
 
The AI, in a press release on Sunday, said, "Around 900 people have been imprisoned in the past 10 months."
 
The AI said Burma's military rulers after violently suppressing a nation-wide protest led by students in August 8, 1988, has continuously arrested and detained dissidents but it has accelerated its rampant arrest since September 2007 protests, adding to the list of some 2,050 political prisoners currently languishing in prisons across Burma.
 
The Burmese military junta, despite being engaged  by the United Nations, through the General Assembly and Human Rights Council resolutions and by sending some 35 official missions by the Special Advisor, Special Rapporteur and their predecessors, continues to arrest dissidents who seemingly  threaten their rule, the AI said.
 
Benjamin Zawacki, AI's Myanmar Researcher said, the number of political prisoners in Burma has significantly increased following the September protests last year, the ruling junta's May 2008 referendum and the fall out of Cyclone Nargis on Burma's coastal divisions in May.
 
"Nothing speaks louder of the government's poor faith than the fact that there are more long-standing political prisoners in Myanmar [Burma] now than at any other time since those protests," Zawacki said in the statement.
 
The AI, in its statement, urged the United Nations to create pressure for the release of 20 prominent political prisoners including veteran journalist U Win Tin, student leader Min Ko Naing and the highly revered Rev. U Gambira, who led the monks on the streets in September 2007.
 
The United Nations, meanwhile, is set to send two of its envoys – Undersecretary General for political affairs, and Human Rights Special Rapporteur - in August.
 
The AI said the UN should take stronger measures to obtain the release of prisoners of conscience including Win Tin, who were detained since the military's brutal crackdown on the August 8, 1988 protests.
 
On 8 August 1988 – popularly known among Burmese as the four eights or 8.8.88 - demonstrations were led by Rangoon University students calling for democracy. It quickly spread to other cities, snowballing and gaining popular support over the next six weeks.
 
However, the Burmese military, that assumed power in a coup in 1962, violently suppressed the protests killing at least 3,000 people. The junta then began a campaign to strengthen its rule by arresting thousands while many disappeared.
 
Despite promises to the international community including the UN, Burma' s military rulers have failed to keep their assurance – to implement genuine change and respect human rights.
 
"The UN should no longer accept the government's hollow assurances but hold Myanmar [Burma] firmly to its word," Zawacki said.
 
The Thailand based Assistant Association for Political Prisoners – Burma (AAPP-Burma), said both the UN envoys that are scheduled to visit the country in August must make sure that they are not used by the regime.
 
"Both of them [Gambari and Quintana] should meet political prisoners and student leaders openly and freely," said Tate Naing secretary of the AAPP-B, adding that the two envoys must control their meetings rather then follow the regime's plans.
 
"They [the two envoys] should not allow themselves to be used," Tate Naing added.  
 
While the newly appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Burma Thomas Ojea Quintana is scheduled to visit the country from August 3 to 7, Ibrahim Gambari will visit in mid-August.
 
Gambari, who visited Burma thrice following the regime's brutal suppression of protesters in September 2007, was able to facilitate  talks between detained opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and junta's Liaison Minister.
 
But the talks were short-lived and as critics had apprehended, the talks yielded no tangible results in terms of political change.