Aung San Suu Kyi, the world’s most prominent political prisoner was due to be freed from her house arrest on 26 May in Burma. But the widespread disaster which envelopes the country at present because of the recent powerful cyclone Nargis has caused this event to go majorly unnoticed. During a meeting held on 25 May with 50 nations to talk about the relief operation being pursued in Burma / Myanmar, even the visiting UN chief Ban Ki Moon kept from broaching this topic.

 

Speaking to a group of media persons during the meeting in Yangon, Ban Ki Moon simply remarked that it was more important to think about the Burmese people at the moment rather than politics. Aung San Suu Kyi has already spent 12 of her past 18 years under house arrest in Burma. She was last detained in her house in 2003 and her term was extended each year since then. But this year’s deadline for her liberation from house arrest is critical.

 

As per the law in Burma, no person can be detained for more than five years without being released to put or put to trial. As such if Aung San Suu Kyi is kept under house arrest any longer, then the government would be flouting its own law. Mrs Suu Kyi was always free to walk out of her home incase she wished to go out of the country. But in that case it was clear that the Burmese government would never allow her to return. As such, she choose house arrest and even did not attend her husband’s funeral in England many years ago.