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Myanmar may have chem arms
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of State, told the OPCW in The Hague.
Washington had information that Myanmar “had a chemical weapons programme in the 1980s that included a sulphur mustard development programme and chemical weapons production facility”, he added.
“Based on available information, the United States certifies that Myanmar is in non-compliance with the CWC, due to its failure to declare its past chemical weapons programme and to destroy its chemical weapons facility.”
Myanmar has previously faced accusations of storing and using such weapons.
In 2013, a parliamentary report said police had used phosphorus the previous year against protesters at a copper mine in the north of the country, causing severe burns.
In July 2014, five journalists from Myanmar were sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labour over an article accusing the military of producing chemical arms.
The previous year, Myanmar’s then quasi-civilian government denied using chemical weapons against rebels from the Kachin ethnic minority during clashes in the north of the country.
The US official said Washington had held talks with Myanmar’s civilian government and military over the issue and “stands ready to assist Myanmar” to destroy the weapons.
Myanmar was the 191st State Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention, which came into force in 1997 and is monitored by the OPCW for compliance, reported AFP.
In 2005, London-based rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide accused the former military junta of using chemical weapons against rebels from the Karen community.
RARE COURT MARTIAL
The US allegation comes as Myanmar faces growing international legal pressure over its treatment of another minority -- the Muslim Rohingya, thousands of whom were forced to flee to Bangladesh in a huge military operation in 2017.
Soldiers, police, and Buddhist villagers are alleged to have razed hundreds of villages in the remote western Rakhine state, torturing Rohingya as they fled, carrying out mass-killings and gang-rapes.
Myanmar says the army was fighting a legitimate counter-insurgency campaign against militants who attacked security posts.
Spokesman Zaw Min Tun told Reuters via telephone that soldiers and officers from a regiment deployed to Gu Dar Pyin village, the site of an alleged massacre of Rohingya, were “weak in following the rules of engagement”.
In a statement published on its website, the army said the soldiers being court martialled were involved in “accidents” in Gu Dar Pyin.
The Associated Press reported the existence of at least five mass graves in the village, through interviews with survivors in refugee camps in Bangladesh and time-stamped cellphone videos. Myanmar denied the allegations made in the AP report.
The country is facing a wave of international pressure over its treatment of the Rohingya, with cases filed against it at courts around the world.
Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of a Nobel peace prize for her past defiance of a military junta that had led the country for decades, is set to travel to the Hague for hearings starting in December at the International Court of Justice.
Gambia, a tiny, mainly Muslim West African state, lodged a lawsuit accusing the country of genocide after winning the support of the 57-nation Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Myanmar says the international efforts violate its sovereignty and has vowed to carry out its own investigations into the allegations.
But few have been punished so far. Seven soldiers jailed for 10 years for killing 10 Rohingya men and boys in the village of Inn Din were granted early release last November, after serving less than a year in prison.
Two Reuters journalists who uncovered the murders spent more than 16 months behind bars on charges of obtaining state secrets, before being released in a presidential amnesty in May.

Pak SC challenges military over army chief extension
Reuters, Islamabad
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has temporarily suspended an extension of the term of office for the country’s army chief, putting it on a possible collision course with the powerful military.
The ruling comes as a blow to Prime Minister Imran Khan, who had said earlier this year that he needed General Qamar Javed Bajwa to stay on, citing continuing tension with neighbouring India over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Bajwa was handed a three-year extension on August 19.
Pakistan suspended trade and downgraded diplomatic ties with India following New Delhi’s decision to strip Kashmir of its special status on August 5. The two countries have fought two of their three wars over the Muslim-majority region, which both countries partially control but claim in its entirety.
Yesterday’s interim order is only temporary, and the court will hear the case again the following day.
In a hearing to validate Bajwa’s extension yesterday, Pakistan’s Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa said the court was suspending the decision until the army produced detailed arguments on its reasoning.
“If the [regional security] situation is so then the army as a whole body can deal with the situation, not the individual,” Khosa said. “If this criteria is allowed then every individual in the army can demand an extension on the same grounds.”
Under Pakistan’s constitution, the army chief of staff usually serves a three-year term. Since the role was established in 1972, only one general has had his term extended by a civilian government.
Khosa issued a notice for a representative of the military to appear in court on Wednesday. If the extension is blocked by the court, Bajwa’s term will end on Friday.
Khan’s government has enjoyed good relations with the military, in contrast to the tensions between the civilian government and army under the party of his predecessor and rival Nawaz Sharif.
During Bajwa’s tenure, the military has been accused by opposition politicians of electoral manipulation that helped Khan come to power last year.
The military, which has ruled Pakistan for nearly half its 72-year history and takes the lead in setting security and foreign policy, has always denied interfering in politics.