Myanmar will start releasing up to 6,359 prisoners this week, a statement on state-run television said.

No mention was made of political prisoners being released but the Irrawaddy news Web site, staffed by many Myanmar exiles living in Thailand, said up to 1,000 political prisoners could be among those released.

The announcement comes after the head of the new state-appointed National Human Rights Commission appealed to the government to set free hundreds of prisoners in jail for common crimes so they can participate in "nation-building tasks."

MRTV announced the presidential decree to release prisoners in Burma -- the former name of Myanmar.

"By the order and the amnesty of the Burmese Union government," priority will be given to old and disabled prisoners as well as those in bad health and who have served part of their sentence with good behavior.

An official from the Ministry of Home Affairs, who spoke to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity, said he had been informed that fewer than 1,000 political prisoners will be released.

The Irrawaddy also reported that families of several political prisoners said around 600 political prisoners, including Pyone Cho, will be among those released.

Cho is serving a 65-year sentence in remote Kawthaung prison for his involvement in the anti-government uprising in 2007, known as the Saffron Revolution.

Maung, Cho's father, told The Irrawaddy he is hopeful his son would be released.

"Although the authorities haven't informed us, we are anxiously waiting for him to come back home," Maung said. "He is a political prisoner and we do understand that his release is a very sensitive issue for the authorities. In my experience, sometimes the prison authorities don't inform anyone when a prisoner will be released. Therefore, my son could be let out any time."

Exactly how many -- if any at all -- political prisoners will be released remains uncertain, even with the urgings of Win Mya, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, published in the government mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar.

In what was described by the newspaper as an "open letter," Mya called on the former senior junta leader and now elected civilian President Thein Sein to release prisoners for the betterment of the country.

He praised the government for setting up the commission that he said goes a long way to satisfying international demands for actions to improve human rights in the country.

"It can also be regarded as fulfilling the hope and aspiration of the international community," Mya said.

But Mya stopped short of calling any prisoners "political" incarcerations. He noted the secretary-general of the United Nations and a number of countries are calling for the release of what they call "prisoners of conscience."

Mya said, "The commission recognizes and appreciates the position of the government that these are prisoners who have been sentenced to imprisonment for contravening the existing laws."

Prisoners "convicted for breach of the existing laws" who don't pose "a threat to the stability of state and public tranquility in the interest of national races" should be released, he said. They should be released so they can "participate in whatever way they can in nation-building tasks."

Mya said the commission "humbly requests the president, as a reflection of his magnanimity, to grant amnesty to those prisoners and release them from the prisons."

The nominally civilian government of former junta leaders, which took office in March, is focused on maintaining "tranquility in the interest of national races" as it struggles to end decades of regional unrest in Myanmar's border regions, notably with China and Thailand.

The New Light of Myanmar also reported the government is engaged in talks with the rebel group around the border region of Mong La and that the group had assured the government's negotiators that they aren't interested in ceding from Myanmar.

In August the government offered an olive branch to rebel groups in Kachin, Shan, Mon and Kayin -- sometimes called Karen -- states to discuss changes to regional government including more autonomy.

But the members of the United Nationalities Federal Council, an umbrella organization of the rebel groups, said negotiations must take place between the regime and the UNFC, not individual militias and fighting groups.

One of the most powerful rebel groups is the United Wa State Army whose ranks swelled to an estimated 20,000 fighters in the past several years.

The other four main ethnic rebel groups are the Kachin Independence Organization, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the National Democratic Alliance Army and the Shan State Army-North.