Myanmar junta chief agrees to end violence in the country

JAKARTA: South Asian leaders have agreed on a plan yesterday with the military junta chief of Myanmar to put an end to violence in the country.

"We tried not to accuse his side too much because we do not care who is causing it," said Malaysian prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin addressing the press after the leaders' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in presence of Myanmar's senior general Min Aung Hlaing.

Muhyiddin further added, "We just stressed that the violence must stop. For him, it's the other side that's causing the problems. But, he agreed that violence must stop."

ASEAN leaders wanted Hlaing to promise to rein in his security forces, which according to an activist monitoring group, has killed 745 people since a mass civil disobedience movement erupted to challenge his coup. ASEAN leaders had also put forward demand to release the political prisoners.

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"He did not reject what was put forward by me and many other colleagues," Muhyiddin asserted after the meeting.

Ending conflict, substantive dialogue among all parties, a special ASEAN envoy to promote dialogue, acceptance of assistance, and a visit by the envoy to Myanmar were all agreed upon. While the chairman's statement said the meeting "heard calls" for their release, the five-point consensus did not discuss political prisoners.

Earlier on February 1, Myanmar’s military force had taken power for a year after declaring a state of emergency in response to its claims of election fraud following Aung San Suu Kyi's landslide victory in the second general after decades of military rules in the country. Many political leaders including Suu Kyi have been detained by the military as well and the country has been in the grasp of violence since then.

Many civilians had lost lives in the violence and many fled to seek refuge in the north eastern states of India.

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