India-Myanmar relations infused new momentum: Analysis on India's foregin policy on Burma (Myanmar)

Press Trust of India(archives): 20 January, 2006

• The real shift in India Myanmar relations came when the BJP led government assumed power in 1998. Since then a new momentum was infused in the dormant Indo-Myanmar relations.

India- Burma Relations

India enjoyed friendly relations with Burma from 1948 to 1962. Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Prime Minister U Nu were instrumental in cementing initial political and diplomatic ties between two countries. India provided Burma with military and economic assistance during this period.

India's relations with Burma totally froze after its military take over in 1962. General Ne Win who seized power, nationalized all private enterprise in Burma and ordered expulsion of the Indians. This created a bad blood in India-Burma relations. India had to arrange ferries and aircrafts to lift its citizens out of Burma. India's war with China in 1962 and military regime siding with the Chinese too had repercussions on India -Burma relations. General Ne Win's idea of cocooning Burma from the rest of the world further distanced India from Burma.

During Indira Gandhi's rule, India avoided any contact with Burma and was critical of its suppression of democratic movement and maintaining a poor human rights record.

There was no change in India's policy towards Burma during Rajiv Gandhi's regime. Rajiv Gandhi criticized the SLORC for assuming power in 1988 and extended moral support to the pro democracy movement in Burma. His government also provided thousands of Burmese citizens with "refugee status" in India after they fled Myanmar in wake of military repression.

India's policy of engaging Myanmar

However, due to changing realities, Indo - Myanmar relations saw a major shift during Narshima Rao's regime. There were three stated reasons for the shift in India's policy towards Myanmar. One was to contain China. Second was to check insurgency, drug trafficking, and smuggling in India's northeastern states. Third was the Look East policy, where Myanmar played a central role if India had to reach out to the South East Asian countries.

So it's with these stated objectives, India started to cultivate friendly relationship with Myanmar. India's then Foreign Secretary JN Dixit visited Yangon in March 1993 and a bilateral agreement to control drug trafficking and border trade were signed. India and Myanmar again held talks in Yangon in 1994 and a Memorandum of Understanding to maintain border tranquility was signed. India assured Yangon that it would not interfere in Myanmar's domestic affairs and Yangon assured New Delhi that Myanmar's proximity with China would not be directed against India.

However, India- Myanmar relations once again deteriorated in 1995, when New Delhi conferred Jawaharlal Nehru Award for promoting international understanding on Aung San Suu Kyi. Myanmar's military junta protested New Delhi's move but despite such irritants, India kept open the political and diplomatic channels with Myanmar.

During Gujaral period, India slipped back to its old policy of supporting the pro democracy movement in Myanmar. The National Front government laid emphasis on human rights and restoration for democracy for improving India- Myanmar relations.

The real shift in India Myanmar relations came when the BJP led government assumed power in 1998. Since then a new momentum was infused in the dormant Indo-Myanmar relations. Fresh diplomatic engagement with Myanmar was made to achieve India's stated objective outlined during Narshima Rao's regime.

India's foreign secretary, K. Ragunath, visited Myanmar in February 1998. He discussed issues like strategic cooperation on internal security, border management and modalities to enhance border trade. To keep the momentum high, India- Myanmar foreign secretary meeting was held in Yangon in August 2000. Discussions were held on effective border management that included steps to curb drug trafficking and smuggling. The two countries agreed to strengthen the infrastructure and step up security to promote border trade.

During Vajpayee era India's foreign minister Jaswant Singh visited Myanmar and singed number of agreements. India's chief of armed forces General VP Malik also visited Myanmar during this time.

As a sequel to these visits made by the Indian dignitaries, Myanmar's foreign minister Win Aung visited India in January 2003. He was first senior leader from Myanmar to visit India after more than 15 years. The two countries signed a protocol to establish regular bilateral ministerial consultations and agreed cooperation in projects related to infrastructure, energy and information technology.

The high point in Indo-Myanmar relation was the visit by General Than Shwe to New Delhi in October 2004. It was for the first time that the head-of-state of Myanmar had visited India in 24 years. Several agreements like setting up cultural exchanges, cooperation in non-traditional security issues, Tamanthi hydroelectric project in Myanmar were signed during his visit. The two sides explored how to expand cooperation in areas like, industry, energy, rail transportation, communications, science and technology and health. India raised the issue of insurgency in its northeast region with bases in Myanmar and the military ruler assured to take necessary steps to oust the rebels from its soil.

Keeping up the contacts robust, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held talks with his Myanmarese counterpart Soe Win on the sidelines of 11th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur in December 2005. Indian Prime Minister suggested to Soe Win to start a national reconciliation process and work for the restoration of democracy in Myanmar. He also conveyed India's desire for the freedom of the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The India Prime Minister also raised issue of insurgency in the northeast region of the country.

India's pressure to curb insurgency bore results in January 2006 when India Myanmar jointly held military operation to flush out the rebels inside Myanmar's territory.

In the ongoing high-level exchanges, Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam visited Myanmar in April 2006. This was first ever visit by an Indian President to Myanmar since independence. The high point of his visit was signing of three important agreements in natural gas, satellite-based remote sensing and promotion of Buddhist studies. During Kalam's visit, new vistas of cooperation in IT, automobile, textiles, agro-based industries, river and land-based transportation system were explored. Indian President promised all help to Myanmar in the institution building process and also in restoring the democratic system of governance. He also expressed concern over the welfare of Aung Sang Suu Kyi and requested her release. The SPDC chief assured Kalam that he would take India's help in implementing his proposed seven point plan for democracy and may give a sympathetic consideration to India's request of the release of the pro democracy leader.

India's Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran followed up Kalam's trip by visiting Yangon in June 2006. This was the seventh round of foreign office consultations between the two countries. The two sides took stock of the common security challenges posed by the insurgents in the northeast region. Reconstruction of the Settwe port in Myanmar, Kaladan Multi-Modal transport project and Tamu-Kalewa-Kalemyo road project were also discussed during his visit. The high point of Saran's visit was the India-Myanmar gas pipeline project.

India and Myanmar Gas

Myanmar supposedly has world's tenth-biggest gas reserves estimated to be more than 90 trillion cubic feet. India has evinced keen desire to procure gas from Myanmar to meet it energy needs. India's ONGC Videsh Ltd and Gas Authority of India Limited together hold 30 per cent stakes in the exploration and production of gas in Myanmar's A1 and A3 off -shore blocks located in Sitwe area of the Arakan state.

India however faces the problem of the transportation of the gas from Myanmar. A Bangladeshi company Mohona Holdings Limited mooted the idea of tri-nation pipeline project involving Myanmar, Bangladesh and India way back in 1997. Under this proposal, the 290 Kilometer pipeline would run through the Arakan state in Burma, via Indian state of Mizoram and Tripura and to cross over to Bangladesh, before entering back into Indian state of West Bengal. The three countries singed an agreement on this project estimated to be $ 1 billion plus in Yangon on February 2005.

The construction of the India- Myanmar pipeline was scheduled to start in 2006 and the delivery of the gas was to commence from 2009. However, this project got entangled in political row after Bangladesh sought other concessions from India to allow the passage of the pipeline through its territory. India rejected Bangladesh's demands that bilateral issues cannot become part of a trilateral agreement and decided for an alternative route to bypass Bangladesh.

A technical consultant company SUZ Tractebel from Brussels (Belgium) was engaged by the Gas Authority of India to prepare a detailed feasibility report for an alternative pipeline route to Myanmar. The European company has come up with the new route that would link Myanmar's Sitwe area with Jagdishpur-Haldia pipeline line at Gaya in Bihar. The 1,400-km pipeline would pass via Mizoram, Tripura, Assam, and West Bengal to enter Bihar. This route is almost three times the distance of the tri nation pipeline and may cost India $ 3 billion plus.

India's decision to bypass Bangladesh was taken after Myanmar started raising doubts over India's seriousness to transport gas from its gas fields. Myanmar gave ultimatum to India that if it does not decide fast, it might consider selling gas to some other countries.

Even as the pipeline project is still in its finalization stage, India has offered hard cash to buy Myanmar gas and import it through ship. India has invited bids for long-term chartering service of a CNG ship for the transportation of the Myanmar gas. Such ship when operational may become first of its kind to ferry such huge amount of gas in the Bay of Bengal.

Some pro-democracy activists and international human rights watchers are opposed to the idea of India buying gas from Myanmar and they want it to be put on hold till democracy is restored in Myanmar.

Issues around Indo-Myanmar relations

India and Myanmar share 1,643 kilometer-long common border along the Potkai Hills. India's four states; Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh share international border with Myanmar. Issues that surround Indo-Myanmar relations are; cross border insurgency, narcotics trade, border posts, border fencing border trade etc. Cross border militancy: India faces insurgency problem in its states of Nagaland, Manipur and parts of Mizoram across the Myanmar borders, whereas Myanmar faces insurgency from Naga (Khaplang group) from the Indian side. India-Myanmar Army has agreed to strengthen the mechanism to exchange intelligence along the international border to check cross border crimes. In January 2006, Myanmar and Indian Army conducted joint operation to flush out NSCN-K rebels where helicopter gun-ships were reportedly used.

Narcotics Trade: India faces the problem of narco-terrorism through the porous Myanmar border wherein drugs are smuggled to India and exchanged for arms and ammunition. According to a report, the Indian army last year alone, seized drugs worth over 30 crore rupees in the international market from the Myanmar border. Myanmar remains the primary source of drugs problem in Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland. Number of agreements has been signed between India and Myanmar since 1993 to collaborate to fight the drugs menace along their common border.

Border post: India- Myanmar army is currently holding border post meetings at regular intervals at Moreh-Tamu in Manipur. The two countries have recently agreed to open four more border posts to facilitate army meetings. They are at Lungwa in Nagaland's Mon district, Bihang in Manipur's Churachandpur district and at Sapi and Zokawathar in Mizoram. Among the border posts, Zokwathar, Moreh and Lungwa are also international trade centers.

Border Fencing: Border fencing is important to check narco-terrorism along India-Myanmar border. Recently, India has sanctioned to raise the iron fencing, along Mizoram's 404-km border with Myanmar. It has also ordered the fencing of the 14 kilometers of the porous international boundary at Moreh in Manipur.

Infrastructure Development

There has been flurry of activity going on in the field of infrastructure, development between India and Myanmar. India has offered $35million as financial assistance to Myanmar for its various development projects. This includes multi-modal transport system, road, railways and telephone network.

Road: India is exploring a transport corridor through Myanmar, a potential gateway to East Asian countries to form a free-trade region. The 'trilateral highway' connecting India, Myanmar and Thailand is being discussed. The National Highway-39 that connects Manipur with Myanmar is considered as gateway to ASEAN nations. Currently a road from the border town of Moreh in Manipur to Kangla that's 110-kms-long is operational. With plans to build another road via Mizoram, another gateway for bilateral and regional trade promotion is in the offing. Another road connecting Zakhaotar in Mizoram with the Chin state of Myanmar is being talked about. India's Border Roads Organization has started the survey work of the 225 km stretch road that would connect Mizoram to Tidium in Myanmar.

Rail: India is playing a big part in helping Myanmar to augment its rail infrastructure needs, supplying rails and rolling stock and assisting in upgrading its rail network. This assistance is part of the ambitious Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) project that would link New Delhi with Hanoi. India has made available a line of credit of US $ 56 million to Myanmar to build a modern railway utility along the northwestern and central flanks of its neighbor. India is also assisting in upgrading the Yangon-Mandalay sector of Myanmar railways. Indian Railways has initiated the preliminary tasks to extend the broad-gauge track from Jiribam in southwest Manipur to Moreh that's scheduled to be complete by March 2010. Waterways: The Kaladan multi model transport project between India and Myanmar is a combination of rivers, transport, building of highway and natural gas pipeline projects. It's commissioned in the southern part of Mizoram with total outlay of $ 100 million. As a part of this project, India is planning to rebuild Myanmar's Sittwe port, situated on the mouth of the Kaladan River. The port is intended to link Mizoram to the Bengal Sea via Arakan's Kaladan River that connects to Assam's river in India. India is keen to rebuild this port for the transportation of gas and other natural resources from Arrakan to its northeastern states.

India Myanmar Naval Cooperation

The strategic importance of Myanmar in the Indian Ocean has made India initiate naval cooperation with Myanmar. A number of Indian naval personal have been visiting Myanmar off late. Indian Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash first visited Myanmar in 2003 and then again in January 2006 where he presented a consignment of communication equipment to his counterparts. His latest visit became controversial because it was reportedly to discuss the sale BN-2 Islander aircraft to Myanmar. This was objected by Britain that originally supplied it to India. The British High Commissioner to India, Sir Michael Arthur issued stern warning that if New Delhi went ahead with the sale, Britain would stop the supply of spares for Indian Navy's Islander aircraft. He added that Britain was bound by EU guidelines that no military dealings have to be done with Myanmar either directly or through third party.

In spite of such hiccups India and Myanmar naval cooperation is forgoing ahead. Two Indian warships, INS Ranjit and ISN Kuthar did joint naval maneuvers with Mayanmar's navy in December 2005. The Indian warships' visit to Myanmar ports was the third, in the past three years. In December 2002, an Indian naval fleet, comprising a submarine and two destroyers, berthed at the Yangon Port. Then in September 2003, two more Indian warships carried out four-day joint naval maneuvers with the Myanmar navy. In exchange, a Burmese corvette was at Port Blair to take part in "Milan 2006." This was for the first time in four decades that a Myanmar ship visited a foreign port.

The China Factor

Due to Myanmar's strategic location, China has always been key in India-Myanmar relations. Security and strategic interests of India and China seem to clash with each other over Myanmar. While China has gained a lot siding the military regime since 1962, India has lost all its leverage supporting the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar. China taking advantage of Myanmar's splendid isolation with rest of the world has developed a deep involvement in Burma. Much to India's strategic nightmare, China on Myanmar's Coco Island has built its naval listening and weather posts. Also, China and Myanmar have agreed to establish a 30,000-square-mile offshore economic zone to facilitate exploitation of natural resources. This may have bearing on India's maritime and economic interests in the Indian Ocean. India's strategic thinking towards Myanmar is  also guided by Sino-Pakistan, Sino-Myanmar relations. India's warming up relation with Myanmar is to check Chinese free run in that country. Although China and Myanmar have drawn closer for various reasons, Myanmar is keen to develop ties with India since it does not want to remain isolated with the rest of world. Myanmar is aware of its strategic importance to both India and China and when it comes to selling of its natural resources it has considerable bargaining options with both these countries.

Conclusion

There are few salient features in the India-Myanmar relations. First, India faces a moral dilemma whether to side with the pro democratic forces or engage the military government. The call of the conscience is to side with the democratic movement but the demand of the real politic is to discard the moral high ground and engage the military regime in Myanmar.

There are three key factors that are compelling India to develop a proactive relation with Myanmar. First 'Look East Policy' to reach out to the ASEAN, second coordinated effort with Myanmar to develop its northeast region and third strategic policy to contain Chinese influence over Myanmar.

In India's look east policy, the trilateral highway between India, Myanmar and Thailand plays a major role to reach the South East Asian countries. So is the Trans Asian railway that is to connect New Delhi with Hanoi.

A deep economic relationship with Myanmar in India's view would give a tremendous boost to the development of its northeast region. The planned infrastructure development of road, rail and waterways are all steps in this direction.

India sees China's involvement in Myanmar having geo- strategic implications for the region and does not want to give it a free hand. It therefore would like to engage Myanmar through greater economic strategic cooperation.

Apart from bilateral relations India is also engaging Myanmar through ASEAN and BIMSTEC. India's engagement with Myanmar through ASEAN began in 1997, when it was admitted as its full dialogue partner and in the same year Myanmar became its full member. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) set up in 1997 is another forum through which India is engaging Myanmar. Its not only India that is after Myanmar, its also Myanmar that's after India. Facing sanctions from European Union and America, Myanmar wants to develop deep relations with India for economic reasons. India is one of Myanmar's major trading partners and fourth largest market for its goods. The most startling fact is bilateral trade between India and Myanmar has grown nearly eight-fold in recent years. In 2004-05 bilateral trade has reached over $500 million and two sides have set target of $1 billion for the year 2006-2007. India's policy of engaging Myanmar has definitely paid dividends even as the tug of war between the call of consciousness and real politic continues.