Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is set to hold talks in Bangkok with Myanmar's junta chief to push for a ceasefire extension, a meeting criticised by some groups battling the military in the quake-ravaged nation.
Anwar, as the current chair of the 10-nation ASEAN grouping, has said he will meet Myanmar's Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Thursday on humanitarian grounds, although the Southeast Asian bloc itself has shunned the junta brass for years.
After Myanmar's military deposed an elected civilian government in a 2021 coup and sparked a civil war, ASEAN barred the ruling generals from its meetings for their failure to comply with the bloc's peace plan.
But a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.7 that struck Myanmar on March 28, killing more than 3,600, provided Min Aung Hlaing with a rare diplomatic opening, including a visit to Bangkok for key meetings in early April.
Two diplomatic sources in Bangkok said that Min Aung Hlaing would return within a fortnight to meet Anwar in the Thai capital.
One of the sources added that they would be joined by Thailand's former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, whom Anwar has appointed a personal adviser in his role as ASEAN chair.
Malaysia's embassy in Thailand and the Thai foreign ministry did not respond to queries about the Myanmar-related meetings in Bangkok, where Anwar is also set to hold talks with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksin's daughter.
The epicentre of the 7.7 magnitude quake on March 28 was near Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city.
‘Utmost caution’
A number of anti-junta groups, including the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) and the Karen National Union, urged "utmost caution" regarding the meeting, which they said was being held under the pretext of delivering humanitarian aid.
"The military junta led by Min Aung Hlaing is a perpetrator of clear violations of the ASEAN five-point consensus," they said in a statement on Wednesday, referring to the grouping's peace plan for Myanmar.
"Any unilateral engagement with the military leader, widely regarded as a terrorist, must be approached with the utmost caution."
Prior to his visit, Anwar said he would seek to extend a ceasefire called since the quake, Myanmar's deadliest natural disaster in decades, that struck during a civil war which displaced more than 3.5 million people and shattered the economy.
The military declared a 20-day ceasefire on April 2, following similar moves by rebel groups and the NUG, but has kept up air strikes since, the United Nations and other groups have said.
Malaysia's prime minister, who is visiting the Philippines, says new ways must be found to persuade Myanmar's military rulers to work with the ASEAN regional bloc to achieve peace.
