Suu Kyi leaves for weeklong visit to India

Yangon, Nov 13 (IANS) Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi Monday left for New Delhi on her first visit to India in 40 years.

The Opposition leader of Myanmar will reach India Tuesday on the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Xinhua reported.

In a statement, Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party said Sunday she would meet Manmohan Singh and address an event in memory of the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru during her weeklong visit (Nov 13 to 18).

Manmohan Singh had invited her for the Nehru memorial lecture they met in Yangon during the former’s Myanmar visit in May.

In 1992, India awarded Suu Kyi the Jawaharlal Nehru award for International Understanding while she was under house arrest under the previous military government in Myanmar.

In New Delhi, Suu Kyi will also meet Vice President M. Hamid Ansari, visit the Indian Parliament and meet Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, followed by a visit to Lady Shri Ram College from where she had graduated with a degree in politics.

Before graduation, Suu Kyi had studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary School. Her late mother Daw Khin Kyi was Myanmar ambassador to India in 1960.

Suu Kyi last visited India in 1987 before she returned to Myanmar to look after her then ailing mother and moved into Myanmar’s political arena.

IANS 2012-11-13 03:30:07