Myanmar assures India on north-eastern insurgents

Pallab Bhattacharya
'
Nay Pyi Taw (Myanmar), Feb 6 (PTI) As north-eastern Indian
insurgents shift their base from Bangladesh facing the heat of
the Sheikh Hasina government there, the head of Myanmar's
military junta Friday assured India that it would not allow
its territory to be used by the ultras to target India.

The assurance came from Gen Than Shwe, Chairman of State
Peace and Development Council, at an unusually long meeting
here with visiting Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari when
India flagged its security interest in clear terms to promote
economic cooperation with Myanmar, sources said.

At the meeting, which lasted for more than an hour
as against the scheduled 30 minutes, Gen Shwe conveyed to
Ansari that peace at Myanmar's 1,445km border with India was
key to greater economic cooperation between the two countries
and there was no question of giving a free run for the
insurgents to carry out anti-India activities.

Ansari, who is on the second day of his four-day official
visit to Myanmar, received a similar assurance from the
junta's number two leader Gen Maung Aye during their meeting
here Thursday.

The two countries agreed that their border needed to be
kept free from insurgent activities for a more meaningful
economic cooperation.

Myanmar, which has been reeling under sanctions by the US
and West European countries, sought India's support in
international fora and asked New Delhi not to come under
international pressure on the democracy issue in this country,
sources said.


India, for its part, told the Myanmarese leadership
that there was no question of succumbing to any pressure from
any quarter on the subject.

India, which has been nudged by international community
to reverse its low-key response to Myanmar junta's handling of
pro-democracy movement, feels punitive measures against
Myanmar would be counter productive.

New Delhi also feels that it does not want to be
prescriptive about the manner in which Myanmar is moving
towards restoration of democracy contending it would only
jeopardise the junta's move towards democracy.

Gen Shwe explained in the detail the government's
roadmap towards democracy and appreciated India's stand of
encouraging the process.

On the issue of north-eastern insurgents, the Indian and
Myanmarese delegations felt that the roads and other
infrastructure on both sides of the border needed to be
upgraded for an effective deterrent against insurgents.

Ansari at his meeting with Gen Aye raised the security
issue stemming from reports of insurgents taking shelter in
Myanmar which shares border with the north-eastern states of
Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland during a
meeting with Gen Maung Aye,
Sources said Ansari held "extremely comprehensive" talks
with Gen Shwe here after which the two countries took
"concrete decisions" to enhance cooperation in security,
hydrocarbon and power sectors and agreed to widen its ambit to
agriculture and railways. PTI PAL