Kathmandu, December 15:

The House of Representatives today demanded the immediate release of the pro-democracy leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi. Welcoming a Myanmarese leader, Tint Swe, in the House today, Speaker Subas Nembang had put forth a proposal at the meeting of the House, demanding the release of Suu Kyi from house arrest.

Swe attended the meeting of the House. Suu Kyi symbolises Asian democracy, Nembang said.

Meanwhile, members of the Ex-MPs’ Club and the South Asian Forum for Peoples’ Initiatives (SAFPI) took out a rally from Maitighar today.

They submitted a memorandum to the United Nations Security Council through the UN House in Kathmandu, requesting the world body to pass a resolution on the human rights situation in Myanmar.

Accepting the memorandum, Mathew Kahane, the UN resident representative in Nepal, said he would pass it to the UN Security Council. “The issue of Myanmar is a long-standing one. I hope the council takes up the issue seriously,” Kahane said.

Tint Swe and a representative of the SAFPI, Sudhindra Bhadoria, are here to participate in programmes being organised by the civil society and former MPs with an aim to press for the restoration of democracy in Myanmar and for the release of Suu Kyi.

Speaking at the Reporters’ Club, Swe appreciated the parliament’s proposal seeking the release of Suu Kyi.

Swe said the Nepali parliament has become the first parliament in the world to table a proposal seeking the release of Suu Kyi.

Addressing a mass assembled at the Maitighar Mandala, Swe said: “The Security Council should pass a binding resolution on the situation in Myanmar. We have already had a number of resolutions in the past to address our problem, but in vain.”

According to him, there are as many as 1,144 political prisoners, including 14 members of parliament, in Myanmar. Khun Tunoo, a leader of Shan, the second largest party of Myanmar, was sentenced to a 106-year jail term. “Seven years were added to his term later as he happened to listened to radio. You can imagine the situation.”

Mahendra Yadav ‘Madhukar’, the head of the Foreign Ministry and Human Rights Committee, said the Nepali parliament is ready to make the “move required” for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the restoration of democracy in Myanmar. “We are ready to fight yet another battle for democracy be it at home or abroad,” he said.

Bhadoriya of the SAFPI said: “Nepal has already set an example in the fight for democracy. Time has come for it to fight against ‘undemocratic move’ in the neighbourhood.”

Among others, NC vice-president Sushil Koirala, leader Dr Ram Baran Yadav, NC (D) leader Hom Raj Dahal, Bharat Shah, NC (D) leader Deep Kumar Upadhyay and CPN (UML) leader Bijaya Subba expressed solidarity with the Myanmarese struggle for democracy.