India, Myanmar discuss possible joint army exercises

Associated Press: 09 December, 2006

India and Myanmar discussed possible joint military exercises, an Indian army official said Friday, a day after a human rights group slammed India for helping support Myanmar's repressive regime. Myanmar military chief of staff Gen. Thura Shwe Mann met with the head of the Indian army's eastern command, Lt. Gen. Arvind Sharma, and expressed great interest in conducting joint exercises at a counterinsurgency training center in the jungles of eastern India, Indian army Wing Commander R.K. Das said.

The move is the latest evidence that India is stepping up its activity in neighboring Myanmar to counter the influence of rival China, and came on the same day as an announcement by the military junta in Myanmar that a deal had been signed with an Indian and Singaporean consortium to jointly drill for oil and gas off the country's west coast. No details were released on when the exercises might take place.

On Thursday, New York-based Human Rights Watch demanded that the Indian government halt its sale of arms to Myanmar, stop counterinsurgency training and press the military government to stop attacks on civilians.

During a visit last month to Myanmar, also called Burma, India's air force chief offered a multimillion-dollar military assistance package, including helicopters, upgrades of Myanmar's existing military aircraft, naval surveillance and counterinsurgency training.

The military junta took power in 1988 after violently suppressing mass pro-democracy protests. It held a general election in 1990 but refused to hand over power when pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory.

India, which initially supported Suu Kyi, has in recent years kept silent on human rights abuses in Myanmar, preferring to adopt what New Delhi calls a "pragmatic" policy toward its military rulers.The new approach comes as energy-hungry India searches for new sources of fuel.

The warming ties, despite its lack of progress in democratic reforms, is also generally regarded as a move to balance the influence of their mutual neighbor, China. Both India and China have been investing heavily in Myanmar's promising oil and gas sector in recent years.