Myanmar Crackdown Protests

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Myanmar Crackdown Protested

 .c The Associated Press 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A human rights organization has urged the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations to press Myanmar's military regime to halt a
crackdown on its leading opposition party. 

The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said dozens of members of the National
League for Democracy are believed to have been arrested or threatened in
recent days. 

Opposition sources say league members, who were elected to Parliament in 1990
but were never allowed to serve, are being imprisoned if they refuse to sign a
pledge restricting their movements. 

The crackdown came in apparent response to a June 23 demand by the league that
the country's military government convene the banned Parliament by Aug. 21. 

The demand marked the first time the party, headed by 1991 Nobel peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, had set a deadline for the military to convene
Parliament. Her party won a large majority of the seats in the poll. 

Many Western nations have ostracized the military regime in Myanmar - also
called Burma - for its poor human rights records. 

Japan and ASEAN, however, have pursued a policy of ``constructive
engagement,'' arguing that closer ties with Myanmar bring a better opportunity
for influence. 

In a statement received in Bangkok, Human Rights Watch asked the ASEAN nations
to ``seek an immediate end'' to the harassment of opposition figures. 

AP-NY-07-02-98 2222EDT