WORLD

India walks a fine line on Myanmar, where a military coup in February has posed a diplomatic challenge to New Delhi and triggered a refugee crisis that has directly impacted the North-East.

Even as India, in its measured responses, has maintained that it is “deeply concerned” and “monitoring the situation closely”, the China factor weighs heavily on its mind. With the military junta seizing control, protesters on the streets have alleged Beijing’s role in the coup. India will not like another country in its neighbourhood with China’s influence writ large.

Not only that, a working relationship with the military establishment in Myanmar is key to India’s efforts to crack down on insurgents from the North-East escaping to the neighbouring country.

With the crisis in Myanmar spiraling with each passing day, India is caught in a bind between safeguarding its own strategic interests and providing urgent relief and rehabilitation to refugees.

The Myanmar's military's ruthless crackdown after its coup has left more than 500 people dead, according to a local monitoring group, triggering international outrage.

Over the weekend, military jets hit targets in the country's eastern Kayin state, as Myanmar reeled from the deadliest day so far in the protests, AFP reported.

The crackdown is having significant repercussions in India, particularly in the northeastern states of Manipur and Mizoram.

India backs a regional process to be convened under the UN to achieve a political settlement and comprehensive ceasefire in Afghanistan as the situation in the war-torn country continues to be cause for grave concern, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday.

Jaishankar made the remarks in Dushanbe while speaking at the ministerial meeting of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process, a regional initiative of 15 countries, including China, Russia, Iran and Central Asian states, to find a lasting solution to the situation in Afghanistan. This was the first reaction from the Indian side to the UN-led initiative proposed by the Biden administration.

Addressing a gathering that included Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Jaishankar also said durable peace in Afghanistan requires a “genuine ‘double peace’” or “peace within Afghanistan and peace around Afghanistan”. He added, “It requires harmonising the interests of all, both within and around that country.”

Pakistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Sunday that no meeting with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar in Tajikistan has so far been "finalised or requested". Both ministers are attending the 'Heart of Asia' conference in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, on Tuesday.

It was being speculated that the two might meet on the sidelines of the conference, given the Pakistan army's recent peace overtures.

The HoA-IP ministerial conference is a part of the Istanbul Process a regional security and cooperation initiative for stability and peace in Afghanistan. It was launched in November 2011 in Turkey.

Violence broke out on the streets of Bangladesh in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit as hundreds of protestors belonging to a hard-line Islamist group attacked Hindu temples, trains and blocked major highways in eastern part of the country on Sunday. Security forces opened fire and used tear gas to disperse the massive crowd calling to enforce a nationwide general strike.

At least 10 protesters were killed in clashes with police during demonstrations organised by various Islamist groups, an international news agency reported.

At least one man was shot in Sanarpara in Narayanganj district where scores of agitators, mostly students from Islamic schools, blocked a major highway connecting Dhaka with the southeastern port city of Chattogram. He was rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment.