"Everybody that we said would be released will be released tonight," Zaw Win, prison department director-general, told reporters at the gates of Insein jail on the outskirts of Yangon. (boxun.com)

"We have already released the first batch of 3,937," he said Friday.

He said inmates were being released from 41 prisons nationwide although reporters at Insein, the country's biggest jail, saw only about 1,000 released there on Friday.

The regime said through state media Thursday it would free 5,311 prisoners on top of the 3,937 planned releases announced a week earlier, taking the total to 9,248.

Several hundred were freed in the past week including fewer than 30 dissidents, according to the opposition and witnesses, and there was no independent verification of the numbers of those freed Friday.

Zaw Win said another 10 dissidents would be among the second batch freed, in what would be a blow to the National League of Democracy (NLD) opposition party which was hoping for 400 in the first set of releases alone.

The timing of the release coincided with a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which starts in Laos on Monday. Political developments in member country Burma are expected to be a major focus of the meeting.

Mr Kyaw Thu made it clear there were no immediate plans to release Ms Suu Kyi. "I don't know when this house arrest will be lifted," he said, but confirmed Mr Win Tin's release would go ahead. "Win Tin is already on the list. We could not have decreed it without really having the intention to release them," he said.

"If we fail to keep our word, then we will face more pressure, not only from our side but also from the West," Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu said. He said a delay in the release was due to transportation time.

Speaking to reporters in Laos, Myanmar Foreign Minister Major-General Nyan Win said the releases had been welcomed by the international community.

"Among those who released are individuals who have been detained for crimes and also people who belong to political parties," he said.

Zaw Win declined to confirm names of political dissidents being released but said they would not include Win Tin, 74, one of Myanmar's best-known journalists and a prominent opposition figure. The Government had earlier announced the release of Win Tin, who was a senior strategist and adviser to Suu Kyi. Mr Win Tin, now 74, was detained in 1989. He remains a member of the central executive committee of the National League for Democracy.

The ailing writer has been behind bars for 15 years and has been the subject of a long freedom campaign by rights groups and the United Nations.

Mr Kyaw Thu,the deplomatic officer made it clear there were no immediate plans to release Ms Suu Kyi. "I don't know when this house arrest will be lifted," he said, but confirmed Mr Win Tin's release would go ahead. "Win Tin is already on the list. We could not have decreed it without really having the intention to release them," he said.

The most famous dissident so far known to have been released was Min Ko Naing, the leader of 1988 student protests, who was released a week ago.

Among those released Friday from Insein prison and a jail in the northern city of Mandalay were six political dissidents, according to the NLD which is headed by detained democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

The junta said the prisoners were "wrongly imprisoned" by an intelligence bureau disbanded after the sacking and arrest of the former premier Khin Nyunt last month. He was also the head of military intelligence for two decades.

Myanmar has more than 100,000 detainees held in some 43 prisons and more than 50 labour camps across the country, according to a prisoners' group operating from neighbouring Thailand.

"This (releases) is because of the ASEAN summit," said Bo Kyi, joint secretary of the assistance association for political prisoners. "They want to focus international attention on it."

Bo Kyi told AFP that opposition figures continued to be arrested despite the release announcements and at least one opposition MP had his prison term extended.

A western diplomatic source said it would take one or two months before a full assessment could be made of who had been released and theirsignificance.

Burma has faced strong international pressure and sanctions over its lack of democratic reforms and the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since May last year.

Despite rumours that security around her home had been eased in the past week, barriers remained in place and cars were being stopped from getting near to her house, according to an AFP correspondent. There was also no indication that her deputy Tin Oo would be released.

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962 even though the NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990. He oppressed 1962 Students movement,1988 People's revolution with iron hands.

A radio announcement again blamed the recently disbanded National Intelligence Bureau for using irregular and improper means to put thousands behind bars. The bureau was the power base of recently deposed prime minister Khin Nyunt, now under house arrest over corruption claims.

Burma has said it will stick to the road map to democracy proposed by all state leaders.

"We are trying to tell the world that we are normal people," Thaung Tun, a Burmese foreign affairs official, said of the prisoner releases. "We review things and when the time is right . . . we're a Buddhist country,compassionate."

The Asian countries e.g. Singapore, Malasia, Indonesia, Phillipines, this time included China too, have shown dissatisfied with the Burmese military regime.

"Our policy is that we will indeed be happy to see democracy here..... But we have been also commited to the principles of Panchsheel since these 12 years and will follow the non-interference stand," Indian Ambassador to Burma, Rajiv Bhatia, told reporters accompanying the first India-ASEAN Car Rally here yesterday.

( Boxun Received Burma's News published by Burma's Chinese) (boxun.com)