India Wants More from Burma

Curb the anti-India militants, Rangoon is told

New Delhi isn’t satisfied. It wants more out of Rangoon. The March visit by India’s External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh, to Burma was a clear signal that not enough is being done by Rangoon to satisfy its concern about anti-India militants operating from Burmese territory.

The official assessment in the corridors of power is that “something” is being done by Rangoon, but it’s not enough to deal with the anti-India militant groups, who are active in several provinces in India’s Northeast.

Natwar Singh is received in Rangoon by Foreign Minister Nyan Win

Placing New Delhi’s concern on record, the Indian embassy in Rangoon said after Singh’s talks with the junta, including Snr-Gen Than Shwe: “It was agreed that dialogue and concrete cooperation to counter terrorist activities in the border region would be further strengthened.”

From the context of these lines, it’s apparent that more dialogue and concrete cooperation between India and Burma are essential as far as New Delhi is concerned. For a long time now, officialdom has argued that the “core reason” for India looking benignly at Burma’s military rulers is the need to keep the 1,640-km-long border between the two countries tranquil.

India’s near-total, public silence on supporting the democratic cause in Burma has long been justified by this overriding strategic objective—that no sanctuary should be provided to the militants, who already enjoy cozy treatment in neighboring Bangladesh.