Source: The Sangai Express
New Delhi, October 17:
Giving a boost to mutual ties, India and Myanmar today agreed to hold joint interrogation of persons arrested on charges of drug and arms smuggling and for insurgency-related activities.
During the five-day Indo-Myanmar Home Secretary level talks in Yangon, the Myanmarese side made it clear that "it will not allow negative elements to use its territory for carrying out hostile activities against Inida." It also agreed to intensify action against arms smugglers and punish them severely if found on Myanmarese soil, a Home Ministry spokesman said.
While the Indian delegation was led by Union Home Secretary V K Duggal, the Myanmarese side was headed by Deputy Minister of Home Affairs BrigGen Phone Swe.
The spokesman said, "in a significant boost to mutual cooperation, both sides agreed to hold joint interrogation of persons arrrested for drugs and arms smuggling and for insurgency-related activities." Both sides also agreed to further strengthen cooperation in curbing trafficking in drugs and psychotropic substances, the spokesman said quoting reports reaching here from Yangon.
At the start of the talks on October 13, the two sides had decided to cooperate in tackling activities of insurgents and other hostile elements along their borders with Yangon giving the assurance that it would severely punish arms smugglers.
The spokesman said the 11th round of Home Secretary-level meeting in Yangon concluded with the signing of the agreed minutes.
The talks, he said, were held in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and trust and it was agreed that maintenance of peace in the border areas was a pre-requisite for development of both the countries.
During the talks, the Myanmarese side agreed to look into India's request for release of five of its nationals who were arrested by its army in June this year.
The Myanmarese side requested India for sympathetic consideration to their fishermen who crosssed the maritime-boundary inadvertently.
To this, Duggal suggested that a working group at the level of the two foreign offices, and including representatives from their security forces, could examine the steps needed to evolve a mechanism so that innocent fishermen from both sides who drifted inadvertently into the territorial waters of the other side might not be put to undue hardships.
"All efforts will be made to ensure that the report of this working group is available before the next meeting" of the Home Secretaries, the spokesman said here without elaborating.
He said issues relating to security, drug-trafficking, border trade, border management and proposed infrastructure projects in Myanmar were discussed.