India could have isolated China over Myanmar: rights official

New Delhi, Oct 22 - India could have helped isolate China over Myanmar's crackdown on pro-democracy activists by refusing to stand by the military junta, says a senior official of Human Rights Watch.

At the same time, Brad Adams, Executive Director of its Asia Division, admitted that international pressure alone might not be enough to make the Myanmar rulers throw in the towel.

Speaking to IANS, Adams said the junta appeared to have overcome the challenge of the protests due to international disunity and also the military's ability to crush or come to terms with various armed opposition groups.

'As long as China, India and Thailand keep behaving they way they are, I don't see (any future),' said Adams, who is visiting New Delhi.

'India could have isolated China as the only backer of the regime' by taking a hard stand against the military rulers, he added. 'This would have made it much harder for the Chinese.'

He cited the example of Darfur, where Beijing at one point emerged as the only visible friend of the Sudanese government despite the massacres of the innocents that the world condemned in no uncertain terms. 'That (isolation) mattered.'

Adams argued that India could have taken some tangible action such as recalling its ambassador from Myanmar to tell the regime that it did not approve of its suppression of the tens of thousands including Buddhist monks.

When the protests erupted in Myanmar last month, almost like the way they gripped the country 20 years ago, India first dismissed it as an internal issue.

However, as Western pressure mounted on China and India, New Delhi shifted its position slightly, saying it wanted the junta to probe reports of excesses and to work for reconciliation with its critics.

In 1988, following similar mass protests, India had come out strongly against the military junta. In the process, its ties with Myanmar soured. It was only in the 1990s that India reached out to the Myanmar military again.

Adams said he had discussed New Delhi's support to Myanmar with Indian diplomats in Geneva.

'They realised they had managed to manoeuvre themselves into looking far worse than China, which takes a lot of doing.'

(c) Indo-Asian News Service

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