Diplomatic Shift: India Invites Myanmar Resistance Forces For A Seminar In New Delhi

New Delhi: India has invited the resistance forces fighting Myanmay’s ruling military for a seminar to be organised by government-funded India Council of World Affairs (ICWA) in mid-November. According to a Reuters report based on unnamed sources, representatives from the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) and rebels from Chin, Rakhine, and Kachin, bordering states in Myanmar, have been invited to the seminar.

India’s decision to invite the Myanmar rebels comes amid fear of destability along its 1650-km border with Myanmar. So far, India has maintained relations with Myanmar’s ruling generals who have been shunned by Western powers.      

“We are going to send representatives,” Sui Khar, vice chairman of one of the ethnic rebel groups, the Chin National Front, said. “This will be the first time, I think, formally, that India will engage with the non-state actors. This is a good, positive approach,” he added.

Reuters said that the Indian government and the ICWA did not respond to its requests for a comment. Similarly, Myanmar’s military did not offer any comments. Reuters reached out to the parallel NUG government, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and the Arakan Army but none of them offered any comments on whether they will participate in the India-sponsored seminar. 

Since the 2021 military coup, Myanmar has slipped into a raging civil war, with most of the border areas now controlled by resistance forces, a moniker for political and military opponents to the Military junta. This is the first time that India has moved to engage with the resistance forces.