India welcomes Myanmar junta leader

India welcomes Myanmar junta leader

Agencies, New Delhi/Yangon

The world's largest democracy India welcomed on Sunday Myanmar's
army strongman Senior Gen. Than Shwe, who arrived on an official
visit days after sacking his prime minister in what was seen as a
bid to promote military hardliners.

It is the first time for 24 years that a head of state from
the secretive country has visited India.

The Myanmar leader, accompanied by a high-level cabinet
delegation whose portfolios include industry, energy and
communications, was greeted at the airport by junior foreign
minister E. Ahamad and Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran. His visit
is the first to India by a leader of neighboring Myanmar, also
known as Burma, in 24 years.

Than Shwe sacked last Monday Prime Minister Khin Nyunt,
architect of the regime's "road map" to democracy and a relative
moderate within the junta which has held power in one form or
another since 1962.

Myanmar exiles in India criticized his visit.

The general will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for what
India said would be wide-ranging talks on bilateral, regional and
global issues.

The Indian foreign ministry said earlier on Sunday that the
two sides were expected to sign agreements on cultural exchanges,
a hydroelectric plant and security issues.

India is now one of Myanmar's major trading partners and is
the second-largest market for Myanmar's goods after Thailand. The
two countries have set a target of US$1 billion worth of trade by
2006.

India's pursuit of good ties with Myanmar is part of its "Look
East" drive and also aimed at offsetting China's clout in the
region.

It said it expected the visit "to contribute significantly to
further consolidation and expansion of bilateral relations".

The visit has become even more important for New Delhi after
an upsurge of violence in the insurgency-racked northeast. More
than 60 people died in a wave of rebel blasts this month.

New Delhi wants Yangon's support in cracking down on the anti-
Indian rebels allegedly sheltering in Myanmar and other
neighboring nations.

"India is not in any way jettisoning its commitment to
democracy but we have to be aware of our limitations in exporting
democracy. It's not an easy proposition," said C. Uday Bhaskar,
director of the Institute of Defense Studies and Analysis.

"Engagement is not necessarily an endorsement," he said. "It
would be strategically imprudent not to engage with Myanmar."

The current junta seized power in 1988 after a peaceful
uprising led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi culminated
in hundreds of deaths. She has been intermittently under house
arrest for years.

"The visit sends the wrong signal to the Burmese (Myanmarese)
people who are struggling for restoration of democracy," said Soe
Myint, editor-in-chief of the New Delhi-based Mizzima News group
which focuses on Myanmar-related issues.

This month former defense minister George Fernandes said India
could not "boast to be the world's largest democracy and do
nothing for the (democratic) cause in Burma".

India once strongly backed Suu Kyi but has been wooing the
Myanmar military leadership since the early 1990s, promoting
trade and investment and seeking to counter China's influence
with its eastern neighbor.

Myanmar exiles living in New Delhi have also slammed India's
decision to receive Than Shwe. Nearly 100 exiles demonstrated in
the Indian capital on Saturday, carrying portraits of Suu Kyi.

"By rolling out a red carpet for ... such a notorious head of
butchers, the government of the largest democracy of the world is
providing a kind of legitimacy and recognition, which the bloody
military regime of Burma needs," pro-democracy groups said in a
statement delivered on Saturday to Prime Minister Singh.

Meanwhile in Yangon a senior general said that Myanmar's
military junta will likely restart talks on a new constitution in
January.

Lt. Gen. Thein Sein, the secretive regime's fifth most
powerful leader, said Yangon would press ahead with the seven-
step "road map to democracy" unveiled by the ousted prime
minister last year.

The junta says the National Convention, the assembly drafting
the constitution, is the first step on the road map which is
supposed to chart a return to civilian rule after more than 40
years of army diktat.