No anti-India activities from our soil: Myanmar

Myanmar reassured India Monday in its capital city here that its soil will not be allowed to be used for any insurgency movement against its South Asian neighbour.

The assurance came during a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his host Myanmar President U. Thein Sein on the margins of the two-day BIMSTEC summit that began here Monday.

India shares a 1,643-km-long land boundary with Myanmar and an equally long water border with the Asian nation and has been uncomfortable over sanctuary to separatists afforded in the neighbouring country.

"The president (Sein) said our soil will not be allowed for people who are inimical to India's interest," India's Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said, after the meeting between the Indian and Myanmar's top leadership.

He also said Myanmar being a country with which India shares borders with no disputes, the establishment here does not see the areas around the common borders as a priority area for large deployment of forces.

Khurshid also went on to spell out a host of issues in which India is helping Myanmar, including the $1-million assistance for people affected by the recent violence against a minority community in the country.

The reference apparently to the violence against the country's long-prosecuted Rohingya Muslims, many of whom have taken refuge in India.

Manmohan Siungh is here till Tuesday evening for the BIMSTEC Summit comprising the leaderships of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.