Myanmar calls for political solution to NE insurgency

Naypyidaw, August 27, 2014: Myanmar claims that bringing peace and stopping infiltration of insurgents is not just a security concern for India, but also for its government, but admits that the inaccessibility of the region makes it difficult to exert total control even as it urged New Delhi to also find a political solution to the insurgency.

“Without bringing peace to the border, we cannot pursue economic development,” Myanmar’s Information Minister and Presidential spokesperson Ye Htut told visiting Indian journalists.

Incidentally, the Myanmarese leader said that Naypyidaw had also talked to Indian Army about the need to engage politically with the insurgent groups. “We had told them that it is our experience that there cannot be a military solution, only a political one,” said Htut, giving the example of Myanmar’s pact with NSCN’s Khaplang faction. And Myanmar has all but finalised a historic nationwide ceasefire pact with 16 armed ethnic groups.

The Myanmarese leader categorically denied the existence of insurgent camps on the South-East Asian nation’s territory and insisted that the ultras “criss-crossed” the 1,640 kilometre-long border. He asserted that Myanmar had invested a lot of military resources on its border with India - with over 10 Regiments permanently based on some of the volatile sections.

“The problem is that it is a mountainous areas, with very few people living there on our side. Also access to that area is very difficult, with very few all-weather roads in that area,” said Htut, who is barely a month into his job.

Source: The New Indian Express