Myanmar Army issues arrest warrant against 7 people over social media comments

Myanmar's military is reportedly looking for people, who expressed their opposition to the coup on social media. The Army has issued a warrant against seven people for criticising the coup on social media and calling for protests. The Army, in a Facebook post on Saturday, called on people to provide any information they might have about the people listed in the post, adding sheltering them or concealing information about them would lead to punishment. 

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One of the leaders listed in the Army's post is NLD lobbyist Ei Pencilo, who said that he is proud of the arrest warrant issued against him and also challenged the military to catch him if they can. Min Ko Naing, a democracy activist has also been named on the list. The 58-year-old pro-democracy activist first came into prominence in 1988 when he was jailed for his opposition activities against the then military junta. This comes as Myanmar marks the eighth continuous day of protests against the coup. 

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The coup

The Burmese military overthrew the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, a day before the newly-elected members of parliament were scheduled to take the oath. The military accused Suu Kyi's government of rigging November elections, in which her party National League for Democracy (NLD) had emerged the victor by a landslide. Suu Kyi's party managed to win 396 of the 476 parliamentary seats of the ones that are not reserved for the military. Experts suggest that the military feared Suu Kyi, with a larger majority than in 2015, would try and reduce the number of parliamentary seats reserved for the Army.

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Prior to the 2020 election, Suu Kyi had promised to decrease the proportion of seats reserved for the military. The Burmese Army currently controls 25 per cent of the parliamentary seats, on which the civilian parties cannot fight elections. Myanmar is a young democracy, with the military ruling the country for the most part of its independent history. When the military finally decided to let go of the control following the revolution in 2011, it reserved seats for itself in the Parliament while drafting the Constitution. Suu Kyi decided to challenge the rule and change the status quo, which experts believe is the reason behind the coup.  

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