Right groups raised concerns over the safety of deportees when Malaysia sent back 1,086 Myanmar nationals on Myanmar navy ships last month, just weeks after the military had seized power in a Feb 1 coup.

Detained in Malaysia for immigration offences, they were deported despite a court order halting the plan. Rights groups had told the court that children and asylum seekers fleeing persecution in Myanmar were among those deported.

Three Malaysian sources familiar with the matter said the decision to delay a plan to deport a second batch until after a proposed Asean meeting to discuss the Myanmar crisis was taken at a Cabinet meeting today.

Myanmar had this month offered to send three more navy ships to pick up its people detained in Malaysia, one of the sources said. Malaysia’s foreign ministry directed queries to the home affairs ministry and Immigration Department, neither of which responded to requests for comment.

Indonesia last week called for Brunei, the current Asean chair, to convene an urgent meeting to discuss the situation in Myanmar, amid a violent crackdown on anti-coup protesters. Malaysia backed Indonesia’s call, but it is unclear whether, or when, that meeting would be held.

Malaysia came under international pressure after sending back the Myanmar nationals last month, with diplomats saying Kuala Lumpur was legitimising the coup by accepting the junta’s proposal to take back the detainees.

Malaysia said the people deported last month were undocumented migrants and did not include ethnic Rohingya refugees or asylum seekers.

But concerns have persisted as the United Nations refugee agency has been denied access to detainees for more than a year to verify their status.