Indian Companies Supply Radar To Communication Systems For Myanmar Military Regime

JAKARTA - The defense industry company whose majority shares are owned by the Government of India, called the Justice for Myanmar (JFM) activity group, supplies military needs to the Myanmar regime.

In a statement, Monday, June 14, JFM disclosed the sale of equipment for the purpose of coastal surveillance, in the form of radar and communication equipment by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to the Myanmar military regime.

"The Indian government gives legitimacy to the junta through BEL's business in Myanmar, enabling the junta's national terror campaign against the Myanmar people," JFM spokesman Yadanar Maung said in a statement accompanying the report.

Citing export data, JFM said BEL exports various surveillance technologies to the Myanmar military regime, including electro-optical systems, radar video extractor receivers, VHF communication systems, graphics processors, workstation hardware, server storage, and batteries, JFM reported.

JFM said the deliveries took place between February 27 and March 29, carried out from facilities in Jaipur and Bangalore. There were other exports to Myanmar before the coup, in January this year and in December 2020, details of which were vaguely described as spare parts for the control center and more than 12,000 items listed as installation materials.

"The company categorizes the deal with the Myanmar military as one of the main orders in its annual report last year," JFM said, adding that one of its six overseas BEL chilies was in Yangon.

In the report, JFM also stated that BEL has cooperation with a number of international companies, such as Israel Aerospace Industries and Elbit Systems (Israel), Baretta dab Elettronica (Italy), Saab (Sweden), Terma (Denmark) to Thales (France-Netherlands).

While the European Union and the international community have imposed an arms embargo against the Myanmar military regime, Thales said JFM sold radar to Myanmar and Terma provided radar to BEL. Myanmar Now cannot independently verify this information.

In addition to the Government of India which is said to hold the majority stake, BEL is also owned by Goldman Sachs United States, Franklin Templeton, Vanguard Group and Dimensional Fund Advisors, Nippon Life Insurance Japan, Mirae Asset Financial Group South Korea, Norges Bank Investment Management Norway, United Kingdom Ninety One, and BNP Paribas from France.

Yadanar Maung urged BEL's international partners, their governments, and shareholders to step up and take a clear moral stance, to end Indian companies' involvement with Myanmar's military regime.

"BEL's despicable behavior, placing profit above the lives of the Myanmar people, shows why there should be a global arms embargo now," said Yadanar Maung.

Myanmar Coup. The VOI editorial team continues to monitor the political situation in one of the ASEAN member countries. Casualties from civilians continue to fall. Readers can follow the news covering the Myanmar military coup by clicking this link.