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News on India Papers on MAy 31st




Suu Kyi rules out compromise
May 30 1996, The Hindustan Times (New Delhi)
 
TOKYO, May 30 (AFP)
Myanmarese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has rejected the 
idea of joining hands with the military to find a compromise to 
promote democratisation, a Japanese, a Japanese daily published today 
said.
 
In an interview with Asahi Shimbum yesterday, Aung San Suu Kyi 
said the idea of having a certain number of military officers in any 
government, as proposed by a Burmese national daily, was 
unacceptable.
 
The leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) told the 
paper it was impossible to make such a compromise even if it was to 
speed up the democratisation.
******************
 
May 30 1996., The Asian Age (New Delhi)
Suu Kyi rejects compromise with military
Thanks to world community
Tokyo May 30: Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has 
rejected the idea of joining hands with the military to find a 
compromise to promote democratisation, a Japanese daily published on 
Tuesday.
 
In an interview on Wednesday with the Asahi Shimbum, Ms Suu Kyi 
said the idea of having certain number of military officers in any 
government, as proposed by a Burmese national daily, was 
'unacceptable' to her National League for Democracy. The leader of 
the NLD told the paper it was 'impossible' to make such a 
compromise. She further clarified that even if such a compromise held 
the promise of a speedy transition to democracy in Burma, her party 
would not accept an offer from the military. She said her group could 
not trust military junta, which disregarded the 1990 elections results. 
in 
these elections even though her party emerged as the party with the 
largest majority she said she appreciate international interest in the 
convention on May 26-28. (AFP)
 
Junta Blames foreigners
 
Rangoon, May 30: Burmas military rulers on Thursday step up 
denunciation of foreign interference in country an continued verbal and 
written attacks on the democracy movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
 
The government ran slogans in newspapers and as scrolling headlines 
on television, including 'Oppose foreign nations interference in internal 
affairs of the state,' 'Crush all internal and external destructive 
elements as the common enemy,' and 'Oppose those relying on 
external elements, acting as stooges, holding negative views.' Two 
government-sponsored rallies on Wednesday with crowds estimated by 
state-run media at 100,000 chanted slogans condemning pro-democracy 
activists and what it called the influence of foreigners on them.
 
The rallies, which diplomats said were organized by government with 
the military forcing people to attend, have occurred all week since 
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi defined numerous arrests to hold a 
meeting. (Reuter)
*****************
 
India for sustaining ties with Myanmar
 
May 30 1996, The Hindu (New Delhi)
>From C. Raja Moan
 
News Analysis
 
As Daw Aung San Suu Kyi steps up her political offensive against 
military leadership in Myanmar, the Indian Government is determined 
to pursue the carefully-constructed policy of functional cooperation with 
the government in Yangon. New Delhi believes it has a set of core 
interests, that demand enduring state-to state cooperation irrespective 
of the other political developments.
 
The government is fully conscious of the profound popular empathy in 
India for the democratic aspirations in Myanmar and the special 
affection that Ms. Suu Kyi enjoys among the Indian people. But the 
Indian government is unlikely to join the Western world demanding 
international sanctions against Yangon and its further isolation. India 
believes that national reconciliation is the immediate task in 
Myanmar and hopes that a new Constitution in tune with the 
aspirations of the people will emerge out of the process of national 
reconciliation.
 
Indian officials characterise the current policy towards Myanmar as a 
cooperative and working bilateral relationship involving a number 
of areas. The current cooperation from Yangon, officials say, has been 
considerable value in controlling the flow of illicit arms and narcotics 
across the North-Eastern border and has allowed India get a better grip 
over the insurgent movements in the region. The cooperation with 
Yangon in border management has been widely appreciated by the State 
governments in the North-East. The security agencies are unanimous in 
the view that without cooperation from Yangon, managing the situation 
in the North-East could be extremely burdensome.
 
Nevertheless, New Delhis muted official voice on the struggle for 
democracy in Myanmar will disappoint the activists from Myanmar and 
their numerous friends in India. But the Government in convinced that 
the current policy of functional cooperation with Myanmar is based on 
pro-found national security interests that New Delhi can hardly ignore. 
It is based on a difficult reconciliation, on the on hand, of Indias 
natural tendencies towards supporting democratic aspirations in the 
neighbourhood and, on the other hand, the importance of avoiding 
interference in the internal affairs of neighbouring countries and 
maintaining cooperative relations with them.
 
Agonising internal debate
The current Indian policy towards Myanmar has emerged out an 
agonising internal debate. As the courageous struggle for democracy 
unfolded in Myanmar during the late 1980s, there was a uprising of 
popular support in India. New Delhi backed the movement to overthrow 
the military regime, with considerable enthusiasm. This resulted in 
utterly strained relations with the government of Yangon. A 
comprehensive review of the relations with Myanmar in the early 1990s 
resulted in a new policy of functional cooperation with Myanmar.
 
The review of the Indian attitude had to take into account the decision 
by the South-East Asian Nations and Japan to initiate a policy of 
constructive engagement with the military rulers in Yangon. Given 
the sporadic Western attention towards Myanmar, India was all but 
isolated in its backing for pro-democracy movement. The dramatic 
expansion since the late 1980s of the Chinese influence in Myanmar 
that included substantive military cooperation between the two 
countries had an important bearing on the makeover of the Indian 
policy.
 
As Yangon itself began to look for cooperative relations with many 
countries and avoid excessive dependence on any one great power, it 
became possible for New Delhi to begin a process of beneficial 
bilateralism with Yangon. The ties between India and Myanmar have 
begun to improve since the early 1990s. However, there have been 
important hiccups too.
 
The decision last year to award the Jawaharlal Nehru for international 
understanding to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi generated bitterness in 
Yangon and a new chill between the two countries. New Delhi 
impressed upon Yangon the sincere desire of the Indian government to 
maintain sustained cooperation with Myanmar and the importance of 
differentiating between the popular enthusiasm in India for Ms. Suu 
Kyi and the approach of the Indian Government New Delhi hopes that 
the present policy of preserving inter-State relations between the two 
countries will not be affected by the current political turmoil in 
Myanmar.
 
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Typed by News & Information Dept. of FTUB (WB)
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