New Delhi (Mizzima) – The 'National League for Democracy' despatched a letter yesterday to the Burmese military junta demanding that they be allowed to meet their leader Aung San Suu Kyi before she meets Mr. Ibrahim Gambari, the UN special envoy on Burma.
The letter appealed to the regime to let them hold a plenary meeting of all party leaders to enable it to take new initiatives and programmes to be presented to the special envoy of the UN Secretary General, Mr. Gambari, during his ensuing seventh visit to Burma beginning on January 31.
"Our Central Executive Committee (CEC) requested the junta to allow us to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi first before she meets Mr. Gambari if we have to have any discussion with him. There will be new programmes, new initiatives and new attitudes to be discussed with him only after we can meet our leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," party leader Win Tin told Mizzima.
He further said that the CEC would meet Mr. Gambari to show its respect for the UN's role but will not have any discussions unless they are allowed to meet their leader.
Though the UN special envoy, who is serving as negotiator as part of his shuttle diplomacy between the military regime and the opposition, could not meet either the top leader of the regime Snr. Gen. Than Shwe or detained Nobel Laureate during his last visit in August last year.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for over 13 of the last 19 years. Under the existing law, the period of her detention is over. She sent this argument to Naypyitaw, the capital and asked for a review of her detention order. But her appeal and argument is yet to fetch a response from the regime.
During his earlier visits the special envoy, to the frustration of the Burmese opposition forces, could not fulfill the preliminary steps to achieve his mission such as releasing all political prisoners including the Burmese pro-democracy icon, urging and persuading the junta for an all inclusive dialogue and negotiation with the Opposition and all ethnic forces.
Win Tin felt that if the visit is due to an emergency invitation by the junta, this must be the junta's attempt to exploit the UN to ease pressure on the regime.
The former journalist who spent nearly 20 years in prison said that he thought this invitation was to buy time and was dilatory in terms of tactics to forge ahead with its planned 2010 general elections under the dangerous new constitution which will enslave the entire country under military dictatorship.
NLD sticks to its position of calling for convening of the Parliament to amend the 2007 Constitution as they have demanded of the junta before.
One month after the sixth visit by Mr. Gambari the junta released a total 9002 prisoners in September but less than a dozen political prisoners were among them.
