India does not follow a policy of sanctions: EAM S Jaishankar on Myanmar

To questions on sanctions on Myanmar at a press conference, after the holding of the Quad Foreign Ministers meeting in Melbourne, Jaishankar elaborated on India's position vis-à-vis the US and Australia's thinking.

“We are all agreed on the importance of the democratic transition that was underway in Myanmar, and clearly the fact that the country has moved in a different direction is something that troubles all of us," he said.

“We all also very strongly back the Asean position on Myanmar and their efforts to engage," Jaishankar said.

“But where India is concerned, as an immediate land border neighbour, we have some very specific concerns in Myanmar which also guides our thinking," he said.

“Concerns about insurgents operating there who some months ago killed a very senior military officer and his family, concerns about Covid and the lack of vaccination on our common border, concerns about a humanitarian situation which is arising from food shortages," he said.

“So those are also concerns we take into account, and where we are concerned we don't follow a policy of national sanctions," Jaishankar said.

In November last year, the Commanding Officer of 46 Assam Rifles Colonel Viplav Tripathy, his wife and little son, were among seven people killed in an ambush by Manipuri terrorists in Churachandpur district.

The terrorists had attacked the army convoy and escaped into Myanmar. On Ukraine, with both the US and Australia speaking in favour of a tough line, the EAM deftly distanced himself from it.

“I will add that as my colleagues (Quad) have observed, we are for something and not against somebody, and a lot of our discussions took off from where the leaders summit left off. “They identified a number of areas where if the four of us cooperate, cooperate practically and efficiently, I think the world would be a much better place," he said.