New Delhi: The ongoing conflict in Myanmar is expected to come up in discussions during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to Laos, and India stands firm in its position that dialogue is the only way forward for resolving the situation, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
PM Modi will be visiting Laos from October 10-11, where he is set to attend the 21st ASEAN-India Summit and the 19th East Asia Summit, being hosted by Laos, which is the current Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
"Myanmar, in the context of the East Asia Summit, this will come up, we expect because it has come up in at the level of senior officials as well as foreign ministers so we expect that it will also be discussed," Mazumdar said at the press briefing on Wednesday.
"Our position is very supportive of the five-point consensus of ASEAN we support, the work of the Special Envoy of ASEAN, who has been in contact with us. Our basic position which we have consistently held is that dialogue is the only way out, violence is no solution and we encourage all parties to sit down and discuss issues between them," he said.
The situation in Myanmar has remained tense, ever since the military seized power in in a coup three years ago. Several incidents of violence and clashes have been reported, leading to security concerns in the region.
India has consistently advocated for the return of democracy in Myanmar by engaging with all stakeholders.
Responding to ANI's question on whether the issue of Indians being duped to Cambodia on the pretext of jobs come up during the Prime Minister's visit, the MEA Secretary said that the issue is being taken up regularly from new Delhi and it is positive results are being observed from it.
"As regards fake jobs, this is an issue which we have been taking up with countries concerned, the external affairs minister has also in the past been taking it up and we have had uh positive responses from the countries involved. Last week, we had a large batch of about 65 people who were rescued from Cambodia. So, this is an ongoing discussion that we are having with the countries and we are seeing positive results from," Mazumdar said.
Last week, the Indian Embassy in Cambodia, in collaboration with Cambodia's Ministry of Interior, rescued and repatriated Indian nationals trapped in fraudulent job scams.
In September, following specific leads by the Embassy, the Cambodian Police has rescued 67 such Indian nationals from Poipet.
Since January 2022 till to date, the Embassy of India in Phnom Penh has facilitated repatriation of over 1,000 Indian citizens, with nearly 770 in the first nine months of 2024. This was possible with the cooperation extended by the Cambodian authorities to the Embassy of India, the statement said.
Speaking further on India's Act East Policy, which is completing 10 years this year, the MEA Secy said there has been qualitative and transformative development in the relationship and it has grown unrecognizable from what it was 10 years ago.
"There's been a qualitative and transformative development in our relations, both with the ASEAN region and with the larger region which includes India policy which is with Oceania, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific island countries with Japan. So, this includes both high-level visits and you have seen even in the last three or four months how many high-level visits there have been between our two countries and in each of those high-level visits there has been real content in a forward-looking way," Mazumdar said.
"Prime Minister himself has visited Singapore and Brunei. We have had incoming visits from the prime ministers of Vietnam and Malaysia. We had the President going to Timoe Leste, Fiji and New Zealand. We have had um External Affairs Minister's visits also to many places. I myself have done foreign office consultations with both Philippines and Indonesia so there's this is a ongoing and very intense engagement with the entire region," he added.
