NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (CU)_Representatives from eight countries, including India, China, Pakistan and Russia, attended a military parade on (27 March) organised by the Myanmar army who shot and killed at least 90 civilians in the Southeast Asian nation.
Since the 1 February coup, weeks of protests have been carried out against the deadly crackdown which had killed more than 400 people prior to Saturday’s bloodbath.
The date marks the 76th anniversary of the Burmese army’s resistance to Japanese occupation during the Second World War. Accordingly, India’s military attaché took part in the parade on Saturday, which was also attended by Russia’s deputy defence minister, and representatives from six other local embassies.
However, the participation of foreign officials in the military parade sparked outrage from pro-democracy campaigners on social media.
For instance, the Myanmar pro-democracy movement inquired on Twitter why ” one of the greatest democracies in the world [India]… shook hands with the generals whose hands are soaked with our blood?”
The spokesperson for the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), an anti-junta group of elected NLD lawmakers, also issued a statement describing Saturday as “a day of shame for armed forces”.
“I cannot express enough the pain it causes all of the people of Myanmar to see some foreign diplomats today alongside Min Aung Hlaing and his henchmen,” he wrote. “The foreign diplomats who attended this shameful Armed Forces Day are a disgrace to their own people, their governments and to the international community”.
Nevertheless, Indian officials claim that the presence of an Indian representative at the event was problematic, as they refer to talks previously held by western diplomats with the Myanmar army. However, experts say that the comparison is ill-suited since those conversations were part of the global community’s efforts to get the country’s military to change course.
