Kaladan News
Dated: November 29, 2004
Indian Prime Minister Seeks Rangoon’s and Dhaka’s Help
to Fight Insurgents
Chittagong, November 29: Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed hope that Burma
and Bangladesh
will help India
deal with the northeastern Indian insurgent outfits allegedly operating in
those countries, said during his trip to Assam
state that ended on Monday 22nd November, according to Pallab Bhattacharya from New
Delhi.
“We’ve made separate
representations to Burma
and Bangladesh
to provide us assistance in dealing with north-east based militant groups in
those countries,” Singh told reporters in Assam’s
capital Guwahati on the second day of his visit to
the state.
Prime Minister further said Burma
in particular has assured India
that would not allow insurgents its (Burma)
territory to use against India.
Burmese Leader Senior General
Than Shwe’s visit to India together with his wife Daw
Kyaing Kyaing, their
children, and a planeload of security personnel, cabinet ministers and assorted
hangers-on have gone ahead with a
previously scheduled week-long visit (from October 24 to 29,
2004) to India, which the Indian government has termed historic. It was the
first by a Burmese head of state in 24 years. Relations between the two
countries have improved after Senior General’s visit to India.
Besides, despite steadily
improved relations since the 1962 border skirmishes, China
remains an obsession for many Indian strategists. They point to the Chinese
–built radar facility on Burma’s
Coco islands near India’s
Andaman and Nicobar islanda
which is thought to serve as a listening post for Beijing
to monitor missile-testing facilities on India’s
eastern coast, said Kobsak Chutikul.
India
also believes China
wants to develop Rangoon
and Hangyi islands as parts of their naval presence
in the Indian Ocean.
Of concern also is the four-lane highway from Kunming
in China’s
Yunnan
province to the Irrawaddy
River
in Burma.
The highway is wide enough to transport army division, warned and Indian
government official. That would further endanger our Northeast, he further added.
With proven oil reserves of 115
million barrels and proven gas reserves of 314.4 billion cubic meters, Burma
is a relatively minor energy supplier. But there are vast unexplored areas, and
proximity makes Burma
increasingly of interest as a potential source of energy supplies for the two
Asian giants, Chutikul more added.
Of more immediate security
concerns on the ground for India, is the long-simmering insurgencies in its
Northeastern states bordering the
Burmese border that are home to more than 40 million people. Numerous ethnic
insurgent groups have been battling the central Indian government for decades, Kobsak further said.
To quell the insurgency, Burma’s
cooperation is seen as essential. Indian officials say the insurgents have
bases and safe houses in Burma
and Bangladesh.
The root of the problem lies in these two countries.
Unless the rebels are uprooted from there, violent attacks are bound to go on,
said chief minister of Assam
state.
Singh’s comments came after Assam
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi
submitted a memorandum to him urging him to impress on Burma
and Bangladesh
the urgency of flush out the insurgents from those countries.
When the present crop of Burmese
military leaders took power in 1988 and violently suppressed a student
rebellion, India
was the first neighboring country to condemn the military government. ##
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