Junta air force chief Tun Aung and Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Intelligence) Air Vice Marshal Ichettira Iyappa Kuttappa met in Naypyitaw on Wednesday amid the junta’s increased air attacks on civilians in Myanmar.
The two discussed progress in cooperation between the two militaries, sending of junta trainees to India, cementing ties between the two air forces, and technical cooperation, junta media said.
The Indian air vice marshal attended the 6th Myanmar-India Air Force Dialogue in Naypyitaw from Tuesday to Thursday. As the dialogue kicked off on Tuesday, seven civilians including children were killed in a junta air raid in Saw Township, Magwe Region, a resistance stronghold in central Myanmar.
The deadly air raid was the second in less than a week in Saw Township, after at least 15 people were killed in a bombing raid on May 9.
As the Indian air force vice marshal was attending the meeting, the junta’s air force carried out continuous bombing raids on schools and health care facilities in Kyauktaw and Maungdaw towns in Rakhine State, inflicting civilian casualties. The regime and the AA have been engaged in fierce fighting in Rakhine since November.
Five people were killed in a deliberate junta air attack on civilians in Sagaing Region’s Depayin Township this week.
The meeting between the regime and India took place at a time when the junta is increasingly relying on its air force to handle resistance attacks. India, which touts itself as the largest democracy in the world, is offering to provide more scholarships for Myanmar military trainees, provide technology and improve ties with the regime.
Tun Aung also discussed fostering ties and cooperation between the armed forces of Myanmar and Thailand during his “goodwill visit” to that country in early May.
India has maintained good ties with the regime since the coup, supplying it with weapons and providing assistance for the regime in military, diplomatic and economic areas, and for its proposed election, drawing criticism from opponents of the Myanmar regime.
India is the third-biggest supplier of arms and equipment to Myanmar after Russia and China, the rights group Justice for Myanmar (JFM) said in a report in March.
The Indian air force and public sector undertakings (PSUs), which are state-owned enterprises of the Indian government, continue to provide military equipment, infrastructure and training to the Myanmar military regime, “aiding and abetting its ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity”, it said in the report.
JFM urged governments and companies that have business relationships with the Indian military and defense industry to use their leverage to urge a ban on all support for the Myanmar junta.
When new Indian Ambassador to Myanmar Abhay Thakur presented his credentials to junta boss Min Aung Hlaing on Friday, the two discussed the “good neighbor” relations between the two countries, launching direct flights, promoting bilateral trade and cooperating in defense matters. The junta boss also explained his preparations for the proposed poll, junta media said.
