India to continue providing humanitarian assistance to Myanmar amid military coup: MEA

India on Thursday said it will continue providing COVID-19-related medical assistance to Myanmar despite the recent military coup in the country. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said that India has extended assistance to Myanmar in its fight against COVID-19 and will continue to do so in the future. Srivastava, however, added that New Delhi is closely monitoring the situation in Burma and is also engaged on the issue as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. 

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India has provided Myanmar with medical kits, testing equipment, and vaccines since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in December 2019. Reiterating New Delhi's support to Myanmar, Srivastava said that India will continue to assist Burma in fighting the pandemic. 

"We remain committed to continuing our humanitarian support for the people in Myanmar in mitigating health and economic impact of the pandemic. India and Myanmar are neighbours with close cultural and people-to-people ties, bolstered by trade, economic, security and defence-related exchanges. We are therefore monitoring developments in that country closely. We are also engaged on the issue as a member of the UN Security Council," Srivastava said. 

Read: Beijing Official On Taiwan, Myanmar And Xinjiang

Myanmar coup

On February 1, the Burmese military began detaining the democratically elected members of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party. State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other members of the Parliament were detained by the military, who later declared an emergency for a year. After the coup, Myanmar Army's Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing took charge of the country. The coup occurred a day before Myanmar's newly elected members of Parliament were supposed to be sworn-in. 

Read: Defiant Myanmar MPs In Symbolic Parliament Meeting

A military coup in Myanmar is not rare as they have taken place in the past as well. However, in 2011 a transition to democracy began with the country's first election in decades was held in 2015. Aung San Suu Kyi won the polls, but military retained 25% of the seats in the parliament as per the constitution, which they helped draft in 2011. Prior to the 2020 election, Suu Kyi had promised to amend the constitution, saying the military representation in the parliament will be substantially reduced in the coming decade. 

Suu Kyi's party won the election by landslide capturing 396 out of 476 seats in parliament, a mandate much larger than in the 2015 polls. The election was monitored by international observers who certified it as "fair". A day before the new members of the parliament were supposed to take the oath, the military staged a coup to oust the government, fearing Suu Kyi would keep her promise and reduce the Army's representation. The military levelled allegations of election fraud and irregularities as their justification for the detainment of leaders. 

Read: Myanmar Crisis: UN Chief Antonio Guterres Says 'unacceptable' Military Coup 'must Fail'

(Image & Inputs: ANI)