After Myanmar was not invited to theASEAN summit held in the US earlier in May, it is likely to be left out of the India-ASEAN summit which will be held in June.
News agency PTI in a report citing officials familiar with the development said that it may invite an official to the meeting.
The people mentioned above said that ASEAN’s position on engaging Myanmar in multilateral forums is that it should be at a non-political level.
India is discussing various aspects of hosting the foreign ministers’ meeting and is also holding discussions regarding Myanmar’s position with regards to the meeting.
India’s relationship with Myanmar is important since both armies have worked together since the past decade to end insurgency in the north-east. The country shares a 1,640-kilometer-long border with a number of northeastern states, including militancy-hit Nagaland and Manipur.
According to a report by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and Shashank Mattoo, India should follow ASEAN and Japan’s example of suggesting both sides ‘urging for political reconciliation’.
It also pointed out that due to insurgency in the northeastern parts of India and China’s attempt to use Naypyidaw to enter India’s sphere of influence in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, it is necessary that India take a diplomatic approach to the issues in Myanmar.
India has several infrastructure projects in Myanmar like the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project (KMMTTP), which connects North East India with Kolkata through the Sittwe Port of Myanmar via the Bay of Bengal and is nearing completion in Mizoram.
It is also constructing the 1,360-km long India-Myanmar-Thailand highway – both necessary to contain China in its sphere of influence.
On several occasions, India has also batted for the resumption of democratic rule in the country but during a vote in the UN general assembly months after the junta takeover it abstained from voting on a resolution rebuking Myanmar.
It is noteworthy that Myanmar also did not attend the first-ever ASEAN summit held in the White House earlier in May.
ASEAN nations have remained undecided about Myanmar’s future after the junta imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi and took over the country in February 2021, sparking a civil war that has killed hundreds.
ASEAN nations are also divided as Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines and Brunei share their concern about the role of the Myanmarese junta or the plight of the Rohingyas while Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have only issued formal declarations calling for all sides to come to the table.
Their “Five Point Consensus” presented to General Min Aung Hlaing at a Jakarta Summit in 2021 also failed to stabilize the country.
However, the White House invited Daw Zin Mar Aung of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) earlier this month during the ASEAN summit in the US.
(with inputs from PTI and The Observer Research Foundation)
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