India, Myanmar stress on sound border management

New Delhi, Aug 29 (PTI) India and Myanmar today resolvedto strengthen bilateral security and defence cooperation formaintaining peace and stability along the 1,640-km-longborder, some stretch of which is porous and den for cross-border crime and insurgency in the northeast. In their talks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and MyanmarPresident U Htin Kyaw discussed ways for "sound bordermanagement" holding it an intrinsic part of maintainingsecurity, peace and stability along the entire length of theborder. A joint statement said both sides reiterated theircommitment to "respect the sovereignty and territorialintegrity of the other and to continue practising the policyof not allowing any insurgent groups to use their soil forhostile activities against the other side". It said both the sides "reaffirmed" their sharedcommitment to fight the scourge of terrorism and insurgentactivity in all its forms and manifestations, adding it wasagreed that enhanced cooperation between security forces andborder guarding agencies was key to ensure peace in borderareas. A number of insurgent groups including the NSCN-K carryout attacks in India while reportedly operating from Myanmar’sterritory. The Indian Army is said to have carried out a crossborder strike targeting two insurgent camps in Myanmar lastyear. Earlier this month, the Army had an encounter with withNSCN-K cadres who tried to infiltrate into Nagaland fromMyanmar. India has been raising with Myanmar the issue ofseveral northeast militant groups having training camps inthat country. "Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to furtherstrengthen bilateral security and defence cooperation, whichis crucial for maintaining peace and stability along the longIndia-Myanmar border," the statement said. On the maritime security sphere, both sides agreed thatsuch cooperation in the Bay of Bengal is vital for bothcountries. As per the joint statement, Myanmar informed the Indianside that State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San SuuKyi will come to India to participate in the forthcomingOutreach Summit between BRICS and BIMSTEC on October 16. Holding terrorism as the most serious threat facing theworld, the two sides called for further strengthening of theinternational legal regime to combat the menace. In this context, they called for early finalisation of theComprehensive Convention on International Terrorism currentlybeing negotiated in the United Nations. PTI MPBZMN