A day after UN Special envoy Ibrahim Gambari visited India, one of the six Asian countries (China, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia), on his regional consultative trip to garner support for UN’s efforts to bring positive change in Myanmar, India along with China and Russia jointly expressed opposition to fresh sanctions on Myanmar.

During Gambari’s meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, Mr. Singh reiterated India’s willingness to work with “likeminded” countries on Myanmar. Taking the point further, India’s External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Harbin, China that “all stakeholders” in Myanmar must be involved.

Earlier, New Delhi made it clear that it would not be a party to any coercive measures on Myanmar. New Delhi’s willingness to work with all stakeholders on Myanmar comes at a crucial time in the light of the evolving political situation in Myanmar and Thailand’s proposal for an UN-backed regional forum on Myanmar that includes India and China.

The recent uprising led by the Buddhist clergy and the subsequent brutal crackdown in Myanmar has opened an opportunity for regional neighbours to work with Myanmar in its political reform process. The Thai proposal comes after ASEAN’s constructive engagement and the West’s sanction regime met with no real effect on Myanmar's ruling junta.

New Delhi impressed upon Gambari that the UN's efforts must go hand in hand with the concerns of regional neighbours, and that India will continue to support the UN dialogue process in Myanmar. While New Delhi had little to offer, it has kept its options open for a regional initiative on Myanmar. Even as the Western countries led by the US intensify sanctions on the Myanmar junta, one thing is clear: the UN envoy is determined to work with Myanmar’s neighbours particularly, ASEAN, China, India and Japan to find a solution to the crisis in Myanmar.

There is no reason why the regional countries should not work together on Myanmar. They all have high stakes in the country. China, India and Thailand share long borders with Myanmar and have common concerns all along the border regions with Myanmar. They share the same assessment that engagement as opposed to sanctions is the way forward. Also, they share the view that Myanmar’s political transition will have to be a gradual process and should be resolved by the people of Myanmar as opposed to “regime change”, purportedly favoured by the West.

The new proposed diplomatic approach involves two important Myanmar neighbours China and India, which are currently being seen as the main obstacles in bringing about political change in Myanmar. Any regional forum on Myanmar without the two Asian giants will be incomplete given the current geopolitical scenario.

The role of such a forum would be to support the UN’s efforts - to work between the UN and Myanmar, between Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta and more importantly to employ diplomatic channels to impress upon the West that sanctions are ineffective strategies to deal with Myanmar - would only compound the problems of ordinary Burmese.

Opposition groups have questioned the exclusive nature of the recently announced 54-member commission to draft a new constitution for the country. However, with the meeting of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the government’s liaise Aung Kyi, a channel of dialogue has been activated. It is hoped that the junta will involve other political forces in the constitution drafting process at some stage.

Myanmar’s neighbours have a responsibility not only to see that the junta’s dialogue with Suu Kyi continues and generate positive results but also remind the junta that all significant political forces need to be taken on board for a meaningful solution to germinate. The stability of Myanmar is of immense importance to the region and that stability can be ensured by a commitment to the process of dialogue between the junta and the opposition, so as to gradually move toward an inclusive national reconciliation process involving Myanmar's various ethnic nationalities.

Unfortunately, Myanmar’s democratisation process has largely been West-centric and continues to be so. This is because Burmese pro-democracy activists until recently, focused their activities largely in Western capitals. And the West led by the US, seemed only happy that they did not have to compromise any principles in their approach towards Myanmar - as it had little or no real stakes anyway apart from a clarion call for democratic reform, riddled with double-standards.

This time around, Myanmar’s neighbours and Burmese pro-democracy supporters need to bring the issue right into the region. In this, India along with Japan and ASEAN have a critical role to play. Although it would be desirable to have all the key regional countries as part of a regional forum on Myanmar, reluctant countries in the region should not be seen as an obstacle.

Countries such as Thailand and India who have already agreed to such an idea need to go ahead in working out the nature and form of such a forum in the hope that others countries also follow suit, although efforts should be sustained to get all countries on broad. In fact, if the forum progresses and makes headway, those who missed the first bus may well reconsider their position.

A regional forum can work with international financial institutions to provide financial incentives to Myanmar as suggested by Ibrahim Gambari. Through progress via political reforms, more financial grants and loans may be extended to Myanmar. There already exists a “seven-step” roadmap to democracy which could be a useful yardstick in this regard. However, if there is any dilution or delay in this democratisation, regional countries may remind Myanmar of the need to expedite the process. The crisis in Myanmar presents an excellent opportunity for the region to organise a forum and to solve the problems that fester in their own backyard.