New Delhi: External affairs minister S. Jaishankar met with his Myanmar counterpart Than Swe on Wednesday (June 25) and discussed the impact of the civil war in Myanmar on areas in India near the border between the two countries, he said.
Than Swe is also a deputy prime minister of Myanmar, which is ruled by a military government that took over in a coup in 2021.
Pro-democracy militias are engaged in a civil war with Myanmar’s military government and the fighting has reached areas close to the country’s border with India.
The war has also prompted the exodus of many Myanmar citizens to neighbouring states in India, with whose residents they share ethnic ties.
During his meeting with Than Swe, who he said “transited New Delhi” on Wednesday, Jaishankar “discussed our [India’s] deep concern at the impact of continuing violence and instability in Myanmar on our border”, he wrote in a post on X.
He added that India was “open to engaging all stakeholders in addressing this situation”.
Among other “priority challenges” Jaishankar said were flagged were “illegal narcotics, arms smuggling and trafficking in persons”.
Drug trafficking into India from Myanmar reportedly increased following the political crisis in the latter country, and there are also reports of militant groups operating in India having rear bases in Myanmar.
Myanmar and India used to implement a ‘free movement regime’, where citizens living in bordering areas were allowed to enter the other country without a visa. But India scrapped the regime in February and also announced it would fence its border with Myanmar.
Jaishankar also said he had sought Myanmar’s cooperation for the early return of Indian citizens trapped in Myawaddy, a town in the country’s southeast that has seen action between military and insurgent forces.
India “urged [the] early return to the path of democratic transition in Myanmar” and “stands ready to help in any manner”, Jaishankar’s post read.
The external affairs ministry has previously said it has ‘long advocated’ for the return of democracy to Myanmar, though it has retained relations with the country’s military government. India also supplies arms to Myanmar.
