JOIN USEven as Yangon contradicted itself to deny reports that the Indian Army had crossed over to Myanmar to raid camps run by militants of the North-Eastern, New Delhi on Thursday chose not to refute the claim with officials pointing out that denial from the neighbouring country was “understandable” and “not unexpected”.
Officials in New Delhi said that although the Indian Army had received tacit support from the Myanmarese Army to carry out the surgical strikes on camps of the rebel outfits of the North-East, Yangon could not have been expected to acknowledge that it had looked the other way when the soldiers of the neighbouring country entered its territory.
The Wall Street Journal early on Wednesday reported that Zaw Htay, the director of the office of Myanmarese President Thein Sein, had confirmed that the Indian Army had carried out the operations inside Myanmar. Htay, however, later on Wednesday contradicted it in a post on Facebook. “According to the information sent by Tatmadaw (Myanmarese Army) battalions on the ground, we have learned that the military operation was performed on the Indian side at India-Myanmar border,” he posted on the social networking website. “Myanmar will not accept any foreigner who attacks neighbouring countries in the back and creates problems by using our own territory.”
India did not officially react to the statement from Myanmar. But officials in New Delhi re-confirmed on Thursday that Indian Army commandos had indeed entered Myanmar to carry out the raid early on Tuesday.
An official said that Yangon could not have acknowledged the fact that it had extended tacit support to the Indian Army’s operations in Myanmar as it would have been tantamount to accepting not only that it had allowed troops of another country to cross the border, but also that militant outfits of the neighbouring nations had set up camps in its territory.