On a positive note in Myanmar
Owing to geopolitics, the PM did not raise the Rohingya issue
F inding the balance between India’s democratic ideals and security interests has always proven to be hard when it comes to Myanmar. This was more than evident during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to India’s easternmost neighbour. New Delhi skirted the issue of Myanmar’s horrific
ourtake treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority but was able to persuade Naypyidaw to allow India to launch a large-scale aid programme in Rakhine province, the home of the Rohingyas and the epicentre of the present violence. Many feel India has said and done far too little on behalf of the Rohingyas. However, this is probably the best that can be expected given the overriding security and geopolitical interests India has with Myanmar. New Delhi, in any case, is hardly in a position to give lectures on humanitarianism when it has rhetorically spoken of expelling of Rohingyan refugees and passed the matter to the Supreme Court.
India’s primary interests in Myanmar can roughly be summed up in the following order. One, to build an economic and security relationship that prevent Myanmar from inexorably slipping into the orbit of China. Part of this strategy requires Naypyidaw’s cooperation in building road, port and other transport links between the two countries. Two, ensure the Myanmar military’s continuing cooperation in preventing various Northeastern militants from using Myanmar as a safe haven. Three, support the country’s stuttering transition into a full-fledged federal democracy. Four, seek to ameliorate the plight of the Rohingyas as well as ensure the tense relations between Bangladesh and Myanmar do not spiral out of control. Each of these is an ambitious policy goal, and has to be pursued recognising that the dominant ethnic Burmese are sensitive to external pressure.
It helps to see Myanmar as a novice nation-state as far as international norms are concerned. India should seek to make Myanmar think increasingly like most other countries and hope that as it becomes more economically integrated, more democratic and less suspicious of the world it will become more accepting of international norms regarding its internal affairs.