New Delhi — The Burmese military junta has hinted that detained opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi could be released within six months, Singapore Foreign minister, George Yeo said on Sunday.
Singapore Foreign Minister Yeo told foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at a dinner party on Sunday that Burmese foreign minister Nyan Win had hinted to him about the release, according to an AP report.
The hint came in the wake of Asean ministers issuing a strong statement expressing its "deep disappointment" over the Burmese junta's decision in May to extend the house arrest of Burma's democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Nyan Win explained that according to Burmese law a political detainee can be held for a maximum of six years, Yeo said.
"And he told us that the six-year limit will come up in about six months time," Yeo was quoted as saying.
But detained Nobel Peace Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's party – the National League for Democracy – said while their party leader was being illegally detained, the junta's interpretation of its own law is wrong saying the law only permits a maximum detention of a political prisoner for five years.
NLD spokesperson Nyan Win said, while they are eagerly waiting for the release of party leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, "We do not believe in what Nyan Win has indicated because it is not an official statement."
Junta's foreign minister Nyan Win's hint could be an attempt to ease the mounting pressure by the Asean ministers on their decision to extend Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest, the NLD spokesperson said.
"We can't repose trust on what they [the junta] said. It could be to ease the pressure mounting against him [Nyan Win] at the meeting," NLD spokesperson Nyan Win told Mizzima.
Amidst international condemnation and legal challenges, Burma's military government on May 27 extended the house arrest period of the Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent more than 12 of the past 18 years in solitary confinement, was last arrested in May 2003, following a murderous attack by junta-backed mobs on her motorcade during a political tour in Depayin, upper Burma.
Her supporters and the US based personal lawyer, hired by her family members said her house arrest term cannot be extended as Burmese law prohibits continuous detention of a political prisoner for more than five years.
Singapore Foreign Minister Yeo, however, failed to answer whether Nyan Win's hint meant Aung San Suu Kyi would be released within six months.
The Asean ministers statement on Sunday is the strongest ever made by the regional bloc, that has traditionally maintained a policy of not interfering in member country's affairs.
The Asean statement while condemning Burma's military rulers for its decision to extend Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest, also urged the junta to engage in a "meaningful dialogue with all political groups and work towards a peaceful transition to democracy in the near future."
The statement also urged the junta to give U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari access to senior leaders and to allow meetings with "the widest possible range of contacts including Suu Kyi."
