Myanmar vows to 'crush' opposition to charter talks

The remarks came less than two weeks after the arrest of six pro-democracy activists, and as the junta prepares to open a new round of charter talks Tuesday among its handpicked delegates at the National Convention outside Yangon.

"We will crush whoever intends to destroy the National Convention," the information minister, Brigadier General Kyaw Hsann, told reporters.

Asked if the junta planned to crush the opposition National League for Democracy, Kyaw Hsann said, "we are very good-hearted and very patient," but also accused the party of trying to take a "shortcut to grab power."

The NLD won 1990 elections in a landslide, but has never been allowed to govern. Since then, the party's leader, Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has spent more than a decade under house arrest.

The junta has insisted on writing a new constitution before opening a parliament, but after 13 years of talks, the process is still dragging along with no tangible results.

NLD members have boycotted the National Convention, insisting that Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners be freed first.

"The NLD asked to open a parliament, using the results of the 1990 election, and to have dialogue with the government. They are using a shortcut to grab power and to destroy the National Convention," Kyaw Hsann said.

"The NLD is using confrontation and destructive policies, so we have no reason to meet with the NLD for dialogue at this time," he said. "The National Convention is the best place for discussion."