Delhi ties with Yangon on Brown radar

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, expected to be here for a two-day visit beginning tomorrow, is likely to raise the issue in bilateral talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The European Union and the UK have imposed sanctions on military aid to Myanmar because of its poor record in democracy.

“We believe the present situation in Myanmar is unstable... (and) there is greater need for international pressure to move the regime in Burma to take reforms seriously,” the British high commissioner to India, Richard Stagg, said here ahead of Brown’s visit.

Singh and Brown are scheduled to meet on Monday for formal talks. Stagg said the UK was not imposing conditionalities but seeking to understand India’s position better. “We are open to dialogue with India as we acknowledge difference of views” on Myanmar, he said. “India is perhaps following a soft and gentle policy. Our approach is different but the destination is the same.”

India ignored protests from the European Union and the West and began transferring military equipment to Myanmar two years ago. The UK protested when the Indian Navy proposed to transfer two British-origin Islander maritime patrol aircraft.

But New Delhi decided it would engage Yangon’s military junta. Visits by military officials of the two countries — at the level of defence secretaries and service chiefs — have increased in frequency over the last two years.

New Delhi’s decision to engage the Myanmarese government is driven primarily by an increase in the presence of Chinese military and industrial projects in that country. India is also keen that Myanmar’s military support it in counter-insurgency drives against ULFA and Manipuri militant outfits who are suspected to have camps in Myanmar.