Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Saka. My guest today has a remarkable life story,

which has taken him from a remote mountain village in western Myanmar to a place in the international media spotlight

as a key spokesman for the political movement intent on reversing February's military coup.

Dr. Sasa is from the Chin people, one of many

minorities to have suffered long-term discrimination and persecution in Myanmar, or Burma as it was.

He was the first child in his village to go to high school. He went on to train as a doctor

and has devoted much of his life to improving

medical and educational opportunities for the Chin people. For the past decade, he's been an

activist in the National League for Democracy. He was with party leader and national figurehead

Aung San Suu Kyi just hours before the generals mounted their February 1st coup.

She was detained, along with many members of Myanmar's government and parliament.

He managed to flee to a neighbouring but undisclosed country.

He's since been appointed as UN representative of the committee, which represents the

ousted parliament, and he's a leading voice

in the pro-democracy movement but with the military continuing to use lethal force against street

protests what options do the opponents of the coup really have well dr sasa joins me now welcome to

hard talk thank you very much for having me, Stephen.

It's a pleasure to have you on the show.

I cannot say where you are because I know you want to keep your location secret,

but it is clear that you escaped from Myanmar in the hours and days after the February 1st coup. And as I understand it, you were with

Aung San Suu Kyi in the hours before the coup. So can you tell me exactly what happened to you?

It was the 1st of February that the military could take stolen democracy from the people of

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