India: Foe of Myanmar Democracy
“The people in Myanmar are…risking their own lives with no big support from any government, but they still keep on fighting. So, countries like India, the biggest democracy, can stand up [to] the biggest bully in our region. [The junta leader] has been committing crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes…In our efforts, we want the Indian government to help us, to support us.”
India, in plain sight, is shamelessly deepening its complicity in the Myanmar military junta’s atrocity crimes. While the illegal and illegitimate junta continues to launch deliberate attacks on civilians across Myanmar, the Government of India is providing the junta with weapons, equipment, economic assistance, and utterly false legitimacy. As the world’s largest democracy, India must immediately stop aiding and abetting the Myanmar military’s international crimes and do its part to support the people of Myanmar’s collective will, efforts, and sacrifices to build an inclusive federal democracy and dismantle military tyranny.
Since the attempted coup, India has emboldened and enabled the junta to wage an all-out war of terror against Myanmar’s people and plunge the country into an unprecedented political, human rights, humanitarian, and economic crisis. In May 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar reported that India is the junta’s third biggest source of arms, supplying USD 51 million worth of arms and related materials since February 2021.
According to Justice For Myanmar (JFM), the Indian Air Force and Indian state-owned enterprises continue to provide the junta with military equipment, infrastructure, and training. For example, in January 2024, the Indian Air Force shipped defense goods to a junta air force base, likely in connection with the 15 Indian Air Force staff deployed to Myanmar to install meteorological instruments. In addition to the Indian Air Force’s involvement, JFM noted that “a large majority of the identified Indian companies supplying arms and equipment to the junta are public sector undertakings further demonstrat[ing] the Indian government’s complicity in the Myanmar military’s atrocity crimes.”
From the beginning, India has made its commitment to supporting the junta’s violence abundantly clear by continuously ramping up its publicized engagements with the junta and providing it an international platform through the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). Over the past week alone, the Indian Ambassador to Myanmar met several junta personnel, offering financial assistance and discussing further military cooperation. Apparently determined to get India involved in every aspect of the junta’s terror campaign, the Indian Ambassador and junta personnel have discussed border-related matters, development assistance from India, and trade. Separately, at a trilateral meeting during the BIMSTEC foreign ministers’ retreat, India’s external affairs minister discussed humanitarian assistance and border concerns with the junta’s foreign minister.
As the junta continues to plunge the country into further economic catastrophe, India is there holding its blood-soaked hand to fund the military junta’s terror campaign against the people—facilitating direct cross-currency payments for trade, buying Myanmar products, and offering banking assistance. With its own interests top of mind, India has also doubled down on its commitment to major development projects in Myanmar, including the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project in Rakhine State and the construction of a Myanmar-India-Thailand highway, blatantly forsaking human rights and environmental protection for financial gain.
At the same time, the junta’s ongoing war of terror against Myanmar’s people has forced approximately 70,000 people to seek refuge in India since the coup attempt. Once in India, many have faced arrest, extortion, ill-treatment, and other human rights violations. Throughout this year, in keeping with past practices, India has been deporting Myanmar refugees directly into the hands of the junta, in clear violation of India’s international obligations. From 16 June to 3 July, 66 Myanmar refugees detained in Manipur State conducted a hunger strike demanding their immediate, safe release, as they remain detained despite having completed their sentences and paid their fines. The strike has been temporarily suspended in anticipation of a decision from India’s central government.
Going forward, India must immediately cut all ties with the Myanmar military junta. That means swiftly ending all engagements and economic ties with the junta, including development projects, cross-border payment mechanisms, and banking assistance. Indian companies—both public and private—must also stop doing business with the junta, aligning their practices with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Following Singapore’s lead, the Government of India must require enhanced due diligence so that all India-based entities end direct and indirect support for the junta. Undoubtedly, any money, arms, and technical assistance from India to Myanmar directly enables the junta’s war of terror against the people.
Furthermore, India must abide by its international obligations, including the principle of non-refoulement, and halt all deportations of individuals to Myanmar. Legal protection and access to essential services must be provided to those seeking refuge in India. In tandem, to meet dire emergency needs within Myanmar, India must also ensure cross-border channels for locally led aid.
In the words of Thinzar Shunlei Yi with India for Myanmar, “The people in Myanmar are…risking their own lives with no big support from any government, but they still keep on fighting. So, countries like India, the biggest democracy, can stand up [to] the biggest bully in our region. [The junta leader] has been committing crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes…In our efforts, we want the Indian government to help us, to support us.”
India cannot claim to be a true supporter of democracy while aiding and abetting the junta and its heinous international crimes. It’s due time for India to take significant steps to support federal democracy in Myanmar and the people’s countrywide resistance movement.
[1] One year following the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, the former military junta changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar overnight. Progressive Voice uses the term ‘Myanmar’ in acknowledgement that most people of the country use this term. However, the deception of inclusiveness and the historical process of coercion by the former State Peace and Development Council military regime into usage of ‘Myanmar’ rather than ‘Burma’ without the consent of the people is recognized and not forgotten. Thus, under certain circumstances, ‘Burma’ is used.
Resources from the past week
Statements and Press Releases
By Justice for Myanmar
Webinar Series: Listening to Voices from Myanmar
By Mekong Watch, ayus:Network of Buddhists Volunteers on International Cooperation, Friends of the Earth Japan, Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC), and Network Against Japan Arms Trade (NAJAT) and Progressive Voice
By Rohingya Justice Initiative
Joint Press Statement on the Humanitarian Situation in Myanmar
By United States Mission to the United Nations
By 240 Myanmar and International Organizations
By 240 Myanmar and International Organizations
By 333 Civil Society Organizations
Reports
Suspected Use of Chemical Weapons in Karenni State and Throughout Burma Raise Alarm
By Karenni Human Rights Group
No End in Sight : Situation of Internet Shutdown and Infrastructure Damages in Myanmar
By Myanmar Internet Project
Progressive Voice is a participatory, rights-based policy research and advocacy organization that was born out of Burma Partnership. Burma Partnership officially ended its work on October 10, 2016 transitioning to a rights-based policy research and advocacy organization called Progressive Voice. For further information, please see our press release “Burma Partnership Celebrates Continuing Regional Solidarity for Burma and Embraces the Work Ahead for Progressive Voice.”
