Yangon/New Delhi, Dec 22 (FN Bureau) Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who is in Myanmar on a two-day visit, on Wednesday handed over one million doses of ‘Made in India’ vaccines to representatives of the Myanmar Red Cross Society. The Indian Embassy in Yangon, in a tweet, said: “Foreign Secretary @harshvshringla handed over 1 million doses of ‘Made in India’ vaccines to the representatives of the Myanmar Red Cross Society to support the people of Myanmar, including those along the India-Myanmar border, in their fight against COVID-19.” The visit of Foreign Secretary Shringla is being seen as New Delhi’s first high-level outreach to the military junta that seized power in a February 1 coup after ousting democratically elected government leaders including Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. During his two-day working visit from Wednesday, Shringla will hold talks with the military junta, political parties and members of civil society. “India will hold discussions with the State Administration Council (SAC), political parties and members of civil society,” said an official statement.
The SAC is the junta’s governing body, led by junta chief military general Min Aung Hlaing. FS Shringla will also discuss issues relating to humanitarian support to Myanmar, security and India-Myanmar border concerns, and the political situation in Myanmar, the statement said. His visit comes a month after India named Vinay Kumar, a seasoned diplomat who earlier served as the envoy to Afghanistan, as the new ambassador to Myanmar, to replace Ambassador Saurabh Kumar. India had in mid-October sent one million doses of Covishield vaccines to Myanmar. And on November 27, New Delhi had sent Covid-19 related relief assistance to the country in response to a call by the ASEAN. Shringla’s visit comes two weeks after India said on December 7 that it is “disturbed” by the verdicts relating to State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, and others. India had said that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld, and that any development that “undermines these processes and accentuates differences is a matter of deep concern.”
Earlier this month, Suu Kyi was sentenced to a four-year jail term by a Myanmar court, which held her guilty of inciting dissent in the first of a series of verdicts. Her sentence was later reduced to two years under house arrest. The Foreign Secretary’s visit would also see him discuss India security concerns on the eastern frontier in the form of cross-border attacks by militant groups. India shares a porous, 1,643-km-long border with Myanmar, which makes it easy for militants to take shelter in the dense jungles across the border after launching armed attacks in India. Last week, Myanmar handed over to India five militants belonging to the People’s Liberation Army that operates in the region bordering Myanmar. The PLA group had claimed responsibility for the attack in mid November that killed Commanding Officer of 46 Battalion of Assam Rifles Colonel Viplav Tripathi, his wife Anuja, their 6-year-old son Abeer, and four jawans.