India Opposes Sanctions, Urges Burma to Set Up Inquiry

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said “bloodshed is unacceptable,” and he advocated a policy of engaging the ruling junta in a process of dialogue.

“I do not subscribe always that there should be sanctions," said Mukherjee on Monday in response to a question from The Irrawaddy at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

"We should try to engage the country concerned in negotiations, in talk, in dialogue. Sanctions from the Security Council should be the last resort. Because sometimes we find that frequent use of this very powerful instrument becomes counterproductive; instead of correcting the rulers, it ends in the sufferings of innocent people,” he said.

Mukherjee said: “We should try to engage ourselves with the rulers of Myanmar [Burma]. I do feel that even if it is being debated and discussed in the Security Council, it will have some sobering effect...to resolve the impasse [and] ultimately yield results.”

Mukherjee has been instrumental in improving military and economic ties between India and Burma. He said the Burmese people have the right to decide the type of government they want, and India’s interest was in having a stable and prosperous neighbor.

In Washington, at the daily state department briefing, spokesperson Tom Casey acknowledged that sanctions only have a limited role.

“I think that sanctions, like any other diplomatic tool, can only do so much. And sanctions implemented by one country or a handful of countries can only do so much,” he said.

“That's why it's critical that the countries that have the most influence in Burma right now, including the Chinese, the Indians and the Asean nations, engage in a serious effort with us to change their behavior.”

Casey said the US would like to see India, China and Asean use whatever levers they have to put pressure on the Burmese government, because, “I don't think it's any surprise that sanctions of and by themselves have not led to a specific change of behavior that we'd all like to see.”

Mukherjee said he hopes the process of national reconciliation and political reform, initiated by the Burmese government, would be taken forward expeditiously. 

A statement issued by the Permanent Mission of India at the UN said India’s Foreign Secretary, Shivshankar Menon, met Ibrahim Gambari, the special UN Envoy on Burma, before he left for Burma last week. The meeting took place on September 24, the Indian Mission said.

Mukherjee urged the Burmese foreign minister to undertake an inquiry into the use of force against demonstrators. While official figures say that less than a dozen people were killed after the security forces opened fire on protestors in various parts of Burma, the actual number is estimated to be much high.

India needs a stable, peaceful, democratic and prosperous region, he said: “This is why the present situation in Myanmar concerns us deeply.”

He said India will work with like-minded countries to try to achieve a peaceful outcome in Myanmar.