NGO: India Should Close Airspace to Myanmar Warplanes

Facts

• International human rights group Fortify Rights issued a statement on Thursday urging India to stop Myanmar's warplanes from entering its airspace on claims that it had "dropped bombs on both sides of the Myanmar-India border" this week.
• This comes as Myanmar military junta fighters reportedly destroyed a healthcare clinic on Wednesday by bombing the Chin National Front (CNF) headquarters in Mt Victoria. This occurred a day after five CNF members were allegedly killed and many others injured.
• It was the first time that Myanmar launched an airstrike on the headquarters of the CNF, one of the key revolutionary groups that have a formal agreement with the National Unity Government shadow government to oust the military junta that took over in Feb. 2021.
• The CNF had reportedly requested military support from New Delhi to increase security in the border after the Chin Human Rights Organization leaked in Nov. 2022 alleged Myanmar junta plans to carry out strikes on Camp Victoria.
• On Thursday, an Indian Army source to The Times of India dismissed claims by the NGO Tuipural Group that a bomb dropped by Myanmar fighter jets on Tuesday on Camp Victoria had fallen on Indian soil in Mizoram's Champhai district and damaged a vehicle.
• According to Fortify Rights, whose CEO Matthew Smith asserted that India must not allow the junta to continue destabilizing the region, Myanmar's warplanes have also violated the airspace of Bangladesh and Thailand in recent months.

Sources: Al Jazeera, Irrawaddy, Diplomat, Fortify Rights, and Times of India.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by DW. India has retained its strong economic and military relationship with the junta despite the evidence of the military's atrocities showing up on India's border through thousands of refugees. If India wishes to prevent a refugee crisis, it should back efforts to democratize Myanmar rather than allow the junta to violently push its citizens over the border.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by India Today. These calls for action are empty. India's military relationship with Myanmar is the same as it was back in 2008. Even after that so-called "free and fair election," Myanmar's military still received 25% of seats in the legislature — enough to veto any substantive political change. There's no reason to think there will be a change today.