Most of the top executives of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party are still being detained by the military following Monday's coup, a recently released senior party executive told Kyodo News by telephone from Naypyitaw on Thursday.
With around 15 Central Executive Committee members including Suu Kyi and ousted President Win Myint being detained, Aung Kyi Nyunt, who himself a committee member, said the risk of the party being forcibly dissolved has become higher as the military has searched and closed NLD offices one after another gradually across the country.
He said that such actions amount to blocking the democratic system as a whole in the country, thus making it a matter of international concern.
The military has accused the formerly ruling party of trying to destroy the country's democratic system by demanding the military accept the results of last November's general election, which it calls fraudulent.
The military, which declared a one-year state of emergency after seizing power and ending a decade of civilian rule in the country, is believed to be detaining Suu Kyi and the NLD members in the capital Naypyitaw.
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By Wednesday, about 400 lawmakers, including Aung Kyi Nyunt, and others had been released and told to return to their homes, but NLD executives remain under the watchful eyes of the military.
By continuing to detain many of them, it appears to be pursuing a strategy of weakening the position of democratic icon Suu Kyi, who remains extremely popular with the country's people.
Those still in detention are said to include not only members of the NLD's Central Executive Committee, the party's highest decision-making body, but also leaders of local governments and local assembly chairpersons.
Meanwhile, the 68-year-old former lawyer said the NLD is happy to see public support such as a pot-banging campaign "which is very encouraging for us."
"We really appreciate our supporters. People in Myanmar shall continue to express they don't accept military rule and that it is totally unacceptable. For that we need a lot of international support and encouragement."
The authorities have remanded Suu Kyi and Win Myint into police custody, her after illegally imported walkie-talkies were found in a search of her residence in Naypyitaw, and him for breaching coronavirus restrictions.
The connection to Facebook was also cut off on Thursday, meaning the NLD has lost an important means of disseminating information.
