Stress on better policing of Indo-M

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Stress on better policing of Indo-Myanmar border

The Hindustan Times news paper, November 5,2000

EFFICIENT POLICING of the 1,600-km long Indo-Myanmar border, with a view
to ending its present highly porous nature, figured in the talks between
the visiting Home Minister of Myanmar, Colonel Tin Hlaing, and Mr.
L.K.Advani.
It was acknowledged that the National Socialist Council of Nagaland?s
(NSCN) militants usually wear uniforms similar to that worn by the Assam
Rifles which led to the ?accident? last week in a border village in
which two jawans of Myanmar?s border police were killed. Col. Hlaing
reiterated Myanmar?s apology for the mix-up.
Many of the villages along the border have the international border
running through them. The two delegations decided to tone up the
pre-determined norms of patrolling of  these areas so that such
accidents do not recur. Corss-border infrastructural linkages would be
enhanced with a bridge across the Tiau river in the Mizoram sector.
India stresses that the rule of Myanmar by a military junta, which
seized power in a coup, does not pose a hindrance to the relationship.
?While we support democracy, India does not believe in interfering in
the internal affairs of another country,? a spokesman said.
External Affairs Ministry sources said the impact of the meeting goes
beyond border policing as Col. Tin is the second most powerful man in
the ruling junta in Yangon.
Colonel Tin will also visit Hyderabad and Mumbai where he will inspect
police and paramilitary training academies and visit information
technology companies. Later in the day the Myanmar delegation visited
the Central Bureau of Investigation headquarters and Central Forensic
Sciences Laboratory.