AGL 37.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.35 (-0.92%)
AIRLINK 124.30 Increased By ▲ 2.79 (2.3%)
BOP 5.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-2.56%)
CNERGY 3.74 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.27%)
DCL 8.51 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (1.31%)
DFML 40.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.41 (-1%)
DGKC 86.70 Increased By ▲ 2.10 (2.48%)
FCCL 33.80 Increased By ▲ 1.10 (3.36%)
FFBL 66.00 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (0.76%)
FFL 10.12 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.7%)
HUBC 103.77 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.03%)
HUMNL 13.50 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (1.89%)
KEL 4.66 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (5.19%)
KOSM 6.86 Decreased By ▼ -0.23 (-3.24%)
MLCF 38.97 Increased By ▲ 1.47 (3.92%)
NBP 60.71 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (0.76%)
OGDC 179.00 Increased By ▲ 6.75 (3.92%)
PAEL 25.00 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (0.81%)
PIBTL 5.69 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.18%)
PPL 152.50 Increased By ▲ 10.81 (7.63%)
PRL 22.75 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.13%)
PTC 15.00 Increased By ▲ 0.26 (1.76%)
SEARL 66.50 Increased By ▲ 1.94 (3%)
TELE 7.02 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-1.68%)
TOMCL 35.64 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (0.39%)
TPLP 7.32 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.41%)
TREET 13.99 Decreased By ▼ -0.21 (-1.48%)
TRG 50.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.95 (-1.84%)
UNITY 26.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.35 (-1.32%)
WTL 1.22 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,678 Increased By 195 (2.06%)
BR30 29,113 Increased By 741.7 (2.61%)
KSE100 90,853 Increased By 1885.9 (2.12%)
KSE30 28,459 Increased By 631.8 (2.27%)

Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday urged the world to help Myanmar complete its journey towards democracy as she became the first foreign woman to address both houses of Britain's parliament. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate said it was an "extraordinary honour" to speak in parliament's Westminster Hall in London, a rare privilege few foreign dignitaries are afforded.
Since World War II, US President Barack Obama, Pope Benedict XVI, South African president Nelson Mandela and French president Charles de Gaulle are the only other foreigners to have addressed both houses in the 11th-century hall. "I am here in part to ask for practical help, help as a friend and an equal," Suu Kyi told around 2,000 lawmakers and guests, who gave her a standing ovation that echoed around the cavernous hall.
"Our own determination can get us so far; the support of the people of Britain and the peoples around the world can get us so much further," added Suu Kyi, who was wearing a purple longyi skirt and white scarf. The opposition leader was freed from nearly two decades of house arrest in November 2010 and became a lawmaker earlier this year as part of a gradual transition towards democracy after years of military rule in Myanmar.
The speech was the climax of her first visit in 24 years to Britain, where she studied and lived for several years until she answered the call of duty in Myanmar, leaving her children and her English husband behind. Suu Kyi earlier held talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron at his 10 Downing Street office, and with heir to the throne Prince Charles and his wife Camilla at their Clarence House official residence, where she planted a tree in the garden.
Cameron defended his decision to invite Myanmar President Thein Sein to Britain for talks, given that he was, until last year, a member of the junta that held Myanmar in its thrall for more than two decades. "There is a process of reform in Burma. In order for that to succeed we have to work with the regime," he told a press conference with Suu Kyi.
Cameron in April became the first Western leader in decades to visit Myanmar - a former British colony that was previously known as Burma - during which he met both Suu Kyi and Thein Sein. Suu Kyi backed the decision to invite Thein Sein, saying: "We don't want to be shackled by the past. We want to use the past to build up the future."
Suu Kyi was only the fifth foreign dignitary since World War II to address both houses of parliament in Westminster Hall, and the honour has only ever been given to heads of state in the past. Others who addressed both houses - elsewhere in parliament - include the Dalai Lama, Jacques Chirac, Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, Kofi Annan, Ronald Reagan, Francois Mitterrand, Haile Salassie and Nikita Kruschev. Queen Elizabeth II is the only other woman who has addressed both houses. John Bercow, speaker of parliament's lower House of Commons, called Suu Kyi "the conscience of a country and a heroine for humanity".

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012

Comments

Comments are closed.