From MIZZIMA News Group (r)

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Get-together of Indian Repatriates from Burma

By: MIZZIMA News Group
17th January 1999

The first ever get-together of Indian repatriates from Burma (Myanmar) was
held at Jhinjholi in Haryana State of India near Delhi on January 16 and
17. The get-together, which was held inside the compound of Surya
Foundation Training Centre in Jhinjholi, was participated by about 200
repatriates from Burma. The meeting, organized by Mumbai-based
Indo-Burmese Friendship Society, was a good opportunity for the Indian
repatriates who were either migrated or expelled from Burma from the early
sixties. Most of them are now scattering all over India. Indo-Burmese
Friendship Society, set up in Mumbai during the seventies, had organized
the Buddha exhibitions both in Burma and India. One of them, held in
Mumbai in December 1988, was inaugurated by then Vice-president of India
Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma. The society has been arranging Buddhist
pilgrimage tours from Burma to India in recent years.

During the two-day get-together, the expatriates shared their personal
experiences and planned for future programmes. Seminars and discussions on
strengthening people-to-people links and cooperation in the fields of
industry, trade & tourism between the two countries were some of the high
lights of the function. The Indian Labor Minister Mr. Satyan Nararan
Yatriha and officials from Burmese Embassy including its Military AttachT
and Counsel Minister in New Delhi attended the function. "It was a happy
meeting for all of us. Some of the families haven't seen each other for 20
or 30 years and it was a good opportunity for them. We wished to see every
year like this", said U Sein Tin, a member of Sanatan Dharma Swayamsevak
Sangh, a Hindu religious organization in Burma. He was one of the two
delegates from Burma at the function. It is noted that the 50th
Anniversary of Sanata Dharma Swayamsevak Sangh will be held in Rangoon
(Yangon) on January 14-16 in the year 2,000. 

A souvenir in commemoration of the get-together was also brought out by
the Indo-Burmese Friendship Society. Notably, the leaders of the present
Indian government and Hindu-extremist organizations like Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) sent the felicitating messages for the function.
Burmese pro-democracy activists and their Indian supporters were not
invited to the function. "They support democracy in Burma. We don't want
to get involved in politics and this is just a social function", said one
of the organizers when asked why certain Indian expatriates were not
invited.

The end