New Delhi: On his maiden visit to Myanmar as External Affairs Minister, Mr. Salman Khurshid, on behalf of the Government of India, announced a $1 million grant for Myanmar on Friday for building infrastructure including schools in the violence-hit Rakhine state of the eastern neighbor of India. However, he remained silent on the violent clashes between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine.
In last six months, according to media reports, the violence has claimed a number of human lives and rendered tens of thousands of people homeless. There were several protest demonstrations in India in last couple of months over the alleged killings of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. India’s grant for violence-hit Rakhine could be seen as a move by Congress-led UPA government to please the country’s minority community.
On the first day of his visit, Mr. Khurshid also signed two key MoUs for deeper bilateral ties. “As a neighbour that is significantly involved for our common concerns, we cannot take a backseat when the world engages with Myanmar,” External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has been quoted as saying by PTI news agency.
During the visit, he would meet his Myanmar counterpart and is scheduled to call on the President of Myanmar and other leaders of the country including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, said a statement from the external affairs ministry.
On second day of his visit on Saturday, Mr. Khurshid inaugurated the International Conference on Buddhist Cultural Heritage in Yangon. Today he also visited the mausoleum of India’s last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar and offered chador at his mazar.