NEW DELHI : India has nurtured closer relations with Myanmar’s military junta over the past two years, including providing weapons at least four times since the 2021 coup d’etat, two humanitarian and advocacy organizations in India said.
The Indian government and Indian companies sold radar technologies and remote control air defense systems to Myanmar’s military government in 2021, said India for Myanmar, which helps refugees from the war-torn country who have fled to neighboring India.
Last year, heavy artillery weapons, detonators for bombs and thermal imaging devices used with automatic rifles and scopes were sold, the group said. And in a show of support for the junta, Indian Ambassador Vinay Kumar attended the military council’s Independence Day ceremony on Jan. 4, it said.
“We have found out that India is keeping the same relationship with the Myanmar junta just as it was with the previous civilian government before the military coup,” said Salai Dokhar, founder of India for Myanmar.
“I must say that India … recognizes and keeps closer relations with the military junta than Russia and China do,” Dokhar said.
India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra meets with Myanmar junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw on Nov. 21, 2022. Credit: Myanmar military
A UN report from last September said that Russia, Serbia and China have also supplied lethal weaponry since the coup. The report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights also noted that an Indian state-owned enterprise supplied a remote-controlled weapons air defense station.
RFA attempted to contact the Indian Embassy in Myanmar for comment since last week but got no response.
Weapons and technology
India for Myanmar listed in a news release last month four instances in which India had provided weapons and technology to the junta after the coup.
In June 2021, India government-owned Bharat Electronics Limited sold radar technology to the junta. The following month, the same company sold a remote-control air-defense system, according to India for Myanmar, the group said.
In 2022, India’s Tonbo Imaging delivered telescopes used in automatic and sniper rifles. And last March, Indian company Sandeep Metalcraft delivered fuses to be used in bombs and grenades by Myanmar’s military.
Indian Ambassador to Myanmar Vinay Kumar meets with members of the junta’s State Administration Council on Apr. 7, 2022. Credit: Myanmar military
The UN report said Sandeep Metalcraft sold Myanmar fuses for ammunition for the Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle. Another organization, Justice for Myanmar, said the Myanmar military had used 84mm Carl Gustaf rounds during attacks in ethnic areas.
An Indian official noted to a UN Special Rapporteur that “Myanmar and India share important security issues along its 1,700 km shared border and in the Bay of Bengal,” according to another report from the UN.
The official said that “any arms transfers that may have been made were based on commitments that were made with Myanmar’s civilian government before the attempted coup.”
Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster. –Radio Free Asia- Reuters’ inputs
