2:55 PM
Waa Haa Haa
Pakistani
president Asif Ali Zardari (left) meets with Myanmar democracy icon
Aung San Suu Kyi at her house in Yangon. He presented her with an award
in recognition of her long struggle for democracy.
"I'm
sure she will be this century's leader to be remembered by the coming
generation," Zardari said as he bestowed on the opposition leader the
Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Award for Democracy, created in memory of
Pakistan's assassinated former prime minister.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel
Peace Prize winner, has spent most of the past two decades under house
arrest. She was released from her latest stint of detention just days
after 2010 elections, following half a century of outright military
rule.
"We want to stop as far as possible the suffering of
families in our country," Suu Kyi said at the award presentation in
Rangoon.
"I hope the day will come when our two countries will be
able to cooperate very closely to ensure that the rights of families and
people everywhere are safeguarded by sound, secure values."
Suu Kyi held about 45 minutes of talks with Zardari in private.
Pakistan
has been ruled by generals for around half its existence and Suu Kyi's
past has resonated strongly with democracy advocates there.
Zardari's
own relations with Pakistan's military are increasingly tense amid
allegations that a secret memo was written at his behest last May in a
bid to prevent a feared military coup after US troops killed Osama bin
Laden.
Zardari is under huge pressure at home with the courts
trying to re-open corruption cases against him in Switzerland and a
probe into allegations that his government sought US help to curb the
military.
He held talks with Burma President Thein Sein in the
capital Naypyidaw on Tuesday on upgrading relations, and promoting
economic and trade cooperation.
A new nominally civilian government took power in Burma last year but its ranks are filled with former generals.
Even
so, the regime has surprised observers with a series of reforms,
including talks with Suu Kyi, who has been allowed to stand in April
by-elections, and the release of hundreds of political prisoners.
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