India favours restoration of democracy in Myanmar

Yangon, Mar 9: Without raking up the issue of release of detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, India today told Myanmar's military junta, in no uncertain terms, that it had a strong interest in seeing restoration of democracy in the country and is ready to support the democratic institution building process.

''We have a strong interest in democracy. India is an established democracy. We are ready to offer support in building democratic institutions for carrying forward this process,'' Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran told mediapersons in a briefing on President APJ Abdul Kalm's talks with Senior General Than Shwe here today during which the two leaders covered the entire gamut of bilateral relations.

However, Dr Kalam did not raise the issue of release of Nobel Laureate Suu Kyi, whose latest detention began last year for demanding restoration of democracy in her country.

Myanmar has been facing severe criticisms from the international community, including US President George W Bush who, during his recent visit to India, talked about the ''deplorable state of human rights'' in Myanmar.

Senior General Than Shwe, on his part, gave a detailed account of his government's efforts for restoration of democracy, including a seven-point action plan being implemented for this purpose.

''The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is keen to take further steps in this regard,'' Mr Saran said.

The Foreign Secretary had earlier said India did care about democracy in Myanmar and pointed out that the release of the pro-democracy leader would greatly contribute to the restoration of democracy.

''It is wrong to say we do not care about democracy in Myanmar,'' Mr Saran had said a day before Dr Kalam embarked on his six-day, two nation state visit of Myanmar and Mauritius yesterday.

On the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement, the Foreign Secretary said it would remove the barriers for India to have access to nuclear technology. ''India has faced a nuclear technology denial regime for several years. The agreement will end its isolation.'' He said India had developed infrastructure in nuclear energy.

''We need to lessen our independence on conventional sources of energy. So this agreement is really important,'' he added.

UNI