Indo-Myanmar Security Cooperation: An Analysis
The cooperation that India has received from its neighbours in its quest to combat terrorism and insurgency has waxed and waned like irregular lunar cycles. While Pakistan has been the least cooperative: an influential section of the country’s officialdom even promotes terrorist action inside India, countries like Bhutan and Bangladesh have been quite accommodating. Bhutan acted decisively, albeit somewhat late, against ULFA, NDFB and KLO, and the Royal Bhutan Army’s Op All Clear of December 2003 cleared the Himalayan kingdom of Indian Insurgent Groups.
VIF Seminar on Myanmar in Transition: Asian Perspectives
Inaugural session of Seminar on Myanmar On Monday, Sep 19, 2011, the VIF brought together high-level diplomats, academics, journalists and security experts for a seminar on ‘Myanmar in Transition: Asian perspective’. Spread across three sessions in a single day, the seminar provided a rich feast of perspectives and analyses on a range of complex issues concerning Myanmar: the beginning of a democratisation process in Myanmar – related constraints and opportunities; civil-military relations; nuclear, economic, ethnic and external factors; and most importantly; India's approach to its Southeast Asian neighbour given that country's strategic significance.
Myanmar-North Korea: Military Alignment
If a survey of the history of relationship between Myanmar and North Korea is ever undertaken, then it would be appear that the association between the two in the past has been anything but rosy. There was no diplomatic relations during the years that followed Myanmar’s independence from Britain in 1948, and indeed Myanmar even endorsed the UN Security Council’s declaration of July 1950 terming North Korea as the aggressor during the Korean War.
Kachin-Myanmar Conflict: Implications for India
The virtual end of the 17 year old ceasefire between Kachin and Myanmar will turn out to be a dilemma for India, particularly in New Delhi’s quest to control the insurgency in the North East. The normalising of ties between India and Myanmar in recent times would, in all probability, require that New Delhi supports the junta’s action, or at least does not oppose it.
Post-election Myanmar and Indian Strategy
As India strives to find its place in the international system and in the region as an important player, the result of the recently concluded 7 November 2010 elections in Myanmar has apparently thrown up some challenges for Indian strategy. There were about 3, 000 candidates contested for 1,063 seats to two houses of parliament and 14 regional or state assemblies.
Myanmar Elections: Legitimacy and Beyond
Feeble public interest in the elections in Myanmar scheduled for 7 November 2010 has not influenced neighbours of the country from watching keenly the unfolding scenario. The military regime seems to have decided on the exercise in order to gain some legitimacy to its rule. Elections, even though non-inclusive, would stem for some time a popular uprising such as the “Monk Revolution” of 2007.
SENIOR GENERAL THAN SHWE’S VISIT : A GRAND SUCCESS
Amidst the doom and gloom generated by an Indian foreign policy, which has for the last several years been marked by lack of vision and by pusillanimity in dealings with USA, Pakistan and China, there are two areas in which there are grounds for cheer notably in our relations with Bangladesh and Myanmar.
