Aung San Suu Kyi's release will help smoothen transition – India

March 7, 2006 - Democratic Voice of Burma

Only when Burma's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest, would the transitional period to democracy for the country be smooth, said the Indian government.

The comment was made by the Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran during a news conference held at New Delhi on 7 March, one day before the visit of Indian president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to Burma.

Saran, also a former Indian ambassador to Burma who is accompanying the president said that Aung San Suu Kyi grew up, studied and lived with her mother who was a Burmese ambassador in India and has strong ties with the country. Saran added that his government believes Aung San Suu Kyi is someone who could bring about democracy quickly to Burma as she is the daughter of Burma's independence hero Gen Aung San and that she possesses the ability of her late father.

Saran added that Kalam's visit would be the highest level visit to the neighbouring country in recent years, a response to the successful visit by Burma's ruling military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) chairman Gen Than Shwe to India in 2002.

At the same time, other reports from New Delhi said that Kalam's three-day trip to Burma is part of his efforts to further India's Look East policy, strengthening economic, business, education and cultural bonds.

Describing it as a significant visit with an enormous amount of "substantive content", Saran said an agreement between the two sides for evacuation of natural gas to India would be tied up. The reports added that India has been keen to tap Burma's gas reserves in the Gulf of Bengal and this could be routed through a pipeline to the northeast of India or any other option including converting it into liquefied natural gas (LNG) and shipping it to India – a plan opposed by environmentalists and people affected by the project, claiming it would lead to more damages to the environment and human rights abuses on local people by the junta.

During his visit, the president will pay his respects at the historic Shwe Dagon Pagoda and at the shrine of India's last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar. He will also visit Mandalay, Burma 's second largest city and take a trip to the school of traditional medicine there.