‘India not soft on Myanmar’

Ibrahim Gambari, a Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General, has said that India was not going soft on Myanmar and was “fully engaged” with the UN in a “common objective.”

After meeting Union External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday, he said the “right messages” were being conveyed to the neighbouring country and the world was looking to Myanmar becoming a democracy at the earliest. “There’s a lot of conversation between India and the government of Myanmar. We think the right messages are being conveyed on behalf of the UN Secretary-General. There’s a feeling that India is now fully engaged with the UN and working together to bring about the common objective,” he said after the half-hour meeting with Mukherjee.

He said the UN was not happy with Myanmar’s pace of reforms in the direction of democracy but was certain India would use its influence with the country for positive results. Gambari arrived here on a two-day visit on Wednesday and has met Mukherjee and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and Vice-President Hamid Ansari.