India vows more military aid, training to Myanmar
April 3, 2007: NEW DELHI: India has promised more military aid and training to Myanmar as part of its policy to counter strategic inroads being made into that country by China and Pakistan.
This came after visiting Myanmar
Navy chief, Vice-Admiral Soe Thane, met defence minister A K Antony, Navy chief
Admiral Sureesh Mehta, Army chief General J J Singh and defence secretary
Shekhar Dutt, among others, on Monday. As reported earlier by TOI, apart from
two Islander surveillance aircraft, India is also transferring arms, including
105mm light artillery guns and T-55 tanks being phased out of Indian Army, to Myanmar.
India had earlier accepted
the request from Myanmar,
the only ASEAN country with which it shares land and maritime borders, for
military hardware and software in return for the military junta's full
cooperation in flushing out Indian insurgent groups operating from its soil.
Indian and Myanmarese armies, in return, are conducting "coordinated operations" along the 1,643-km Indo-Myanmar border to flush out outfits like ULFA, UNLF, PLA and Kannglei Yawol Kanna Lup, which have set up bases in the thick jungles there.
Sources: TIMESOFINDIA