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.