Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since the final phase of hearings at a military junta-run court in 2022. Intense concern has grown over the current condition and whereabouts of the leader, who has been detained for nearly four years, and her family, diplomats from various countries and regional leaders are now demanding clear proof that she is alive — proof of life. Amid rising worldwide concern over the latest situation of the 81-year-old leader, her younger son, Kim Aris, is campaigning internationally.
In a recent speech in London, Aris expressed deep alarm, saying his mother had effectively vanished from public view and that even her lawyers had not been allowed to meet her since the 2021 military coup. Although the junta claimed earlier this year to have moved Suu Kyi from prison to house arrest, it has repeatedly rejected all requests to see her. Diplomatic activity over her detention has continued: at a meeting in New Delhi last month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue of Suu Kyi with junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and in May UN special envoy Julie Bishop had also requested a meeting with her. Diplomats said the junta chief reacted angrily at the mere mention of her name, and deep concern over her physical condition was also expressed at a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Bangkok.
Although the military government claimed in April to have moved Suu Kyi from prison to house arrest, it has not been able to provide reliable proof; junta officials released only a single photograph showing her talking with a police and an army officer. Her son Kim Aris has cast doubt on the authenticity of the photo, saying there is no proof it was taken recently, adding that her house in Naypyidaw has already been demolished and that she is not being kept at her old residence in Yangon either.
Her long absence from view has fuelled various speculations among diplomats, with some fearing that the junta chief’s reluctance may be because she is seriously ill or no longer alive. Some analysts, however, believe that keeping Suu Kyi completely isolated is mainly a strategy to suppress her political influence. Various armed groups and pro-democracy forces in Myanmar are currently fighting the military junta in a united front, and experts believe that releasing her could crack that fragile alliance — but that the military may fear the prospect of a nonviolent mass movement forming under her leadership even more than the armed struggle.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report