New Delhi: India has again pressed Myanmar to adopt a pro-active approach against the various insurgent groups of the Northeast, which are operating from their camps on Myanmarese soil and urged Yangoon to beef up border security and put a check on drug trafficking across its borders.
These were the high points on the agenda when Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil held talks with his Myanmarese counterpart Maj Gen Maung Oo here on Thursday. India footlinked its demands with an assurance to provide assistance in the form of training and capacity-building of Myanmarese Home Ministry officials.
While it was not known if Mynamar has agreed to an operation to flush out rebels as had been done by Bhutan against the ULFA in 2003, the Myanmarese minister is understood to have told Patil that it would not allow 'negative elements' to use its territory for carrying out hostile activities against India.
"Both the sides assured full cooperation with each other in this regard," Home Ministry sources said about the meeting, adding that "the visit of Maj Gen Maung Oo has provided a renewed impetus for widening and deepening of the India-Myanmar relations."
Earlier during a home secretary-level talks in September this year, the Indian Home Ministry had told the neighbouring country to agree to a verification process to spot the militant camps and flush out the rebels once the Indian authorities point out to them the exact locations of the rebel camps
In the last round of talks held in Yangoon, India had furnished evidence of 15 militant camps belonging to the NSCN (K), NSCN (IM), PLA, UNLF and ULFA scattered all along the 1643-km international border that Myanmar shares with Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Mizoram.
Of this, Arunachal Pradesh accounts for 520 km of the border followed by Mizoram at 510km. Manipur shares 398 km of its boundary with Myanmar and Nagaland another 258 km.
Maj Gen Maung Oo is on India visit along with a four-member delegation on the invitation of Patil. Prior to their arrival in New Delhi, the Myanmarese delegation visited Bangalore and Hyderabad from December 17 to 20. The delegation visited the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) at Bangalore and the National Police Academy and the software development facility of a leading firm at Hyderabad.
Maj Gen Maung Oo also visited a Compact Disc Manufacturing Unit at Greater Noida, UP, on Wednesday. During these visits, the Myanmar delegation appreciated technological advancements made by India in space research, aeronautics and information technology fields. The Myanmar Home Minister also extended invitation to Patil on his behalf and on behalf of the head of the Government of Union of Myanmar to visit Myanmar at his earliest convenience.
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