By IANS
New York : India has urged Myanmar to hold an inquiry into violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, but cautioned the international community against using sanctions that may end up exacerbating the sufferings of innocent citizens.
In remarks that indicated New Delhi’s toughening stance at the festering crisis in Myanmar, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Monday that the “bloodshed in this situation was unacceptable” even as he exhorted the international community to engage in dialogue, rather than deploy sanctions which he stressed should only be used as a “last resort”.
Mukherjee’s remarks – strongest so far from India since the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar that started over a week ago – come days after the US and the European Union asked India and China to use their influence to push dialogue and political reforms in Myanmar, the southeast Asian country that has been ruled by the junta for over four decades.
“Sanctions from the Security Council should be the last resort because sometimes we find that frequent use of this very powerful instrument becomes counter productive,” Mukherjee said while answering questions from experts at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) here.
“Instead of correcting the errant rulers, it ends in the sufferings of the innocent people,” he told a select audience of international strategic analysts.
The minister said he did “not subscribe to penal sanctions at all times”.
In his meeting with his Myanmarese counterpart U Nyan Win on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Mukherjee suggested that the Myanmar government hold an inquiry into use of violence against pro-democracy protesters that has killed 10 people and led to detention of hundreds of Buddhist monks who are spearheading the movement.
“As a close and friendly neighbour, India hoped to see peace, prosperity and stability in Myanmar,” Mukherjee said.
Reiterating India’s earlier stand, he called for quickening the process of national reconciliation and political reforms initiated by the Myanmar government and hoped that this process would be “taken forward expeditiously”.
In his speech at the council meeting, Mukherjee noted that India needs “a stable, peaceful, democratic and prosperous periphery for its own and the region’s future”.
“This is why the present situation in Myanmar concerns us deeply,” he said.
Mukherjee added that India “will work with like-minded countries to make a peaceful outcome possible in Myanmar”.
He also discussed the situation in Myanmar with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, India’s permanent mission to the UN said.
The suggestion about an inquiry was a significant advance over an earlier statement by Mukherjee and another by the external affairs ministry that called for inclusive and broadbased political reforms and national reconciliation in Myanmar.
The toughening of stance indicates increasing international pressure over New Delhi, which was seen to be mild in its response compared to the chorus of strong international condemnation of repressive methods used by the junta in stamping down the largest popular upsurge in Myanmar since the pro-democracy protests in 1988.
India had to also face flak from human rights groups and exiled Myanmarese leaders, especially after Petroleum Minister Murli Deora’s visit to Myanmar 10 days ago coinciding with the peaking of pro-democracy protests.
India has been guarded in its response because of its substantial strategic and economic stakes in Myanmar. New Delhi was a staunch supporter of the pro-democracy movement till the early 1990s, but changed its policy later to one of realpolitik and engagement after Beijing established its influence in Yangon and cornered most of the lucrative energy and infrastructure projects.
Another reason why New Delhi needed the junta was to check the activities of insurgents in India’s northeast states who often took shelter in the neighbouring country.
In Washington, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey noted that the US in a joint statement with the European Union last week specifically called on India, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to do more to support the cause of political dialogue and of freedom for the people of Myanmar.
The US would certainly like to see “those countries use the influence that they have because of their political relations, as well as their commercial and economic relations with Burma to put pressure on the regime to make those changes actually occur”, Casey had said.