India reportedly invites Myanmar's anti-junta forces to Delhi seminar

India has invited political and military opponents of Myanmar's ruling junta to attend a seminar in New Delhi, sources said, a significant move by the South Asian power that has maintained ties with the top generals shunned by Western nations.

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A civil war in Myanmar that has been ongoing since its military unseated an elected civilian government in a February 2021 coup now risks destabilising India's 1,650km border with Myanmar and some of its key infrastructure projects there.

A leader of an armed group and two sources with direct knowledge of the issue said the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) and ethnic minority rebels from Chin, Rakhine and Kachin states bordering India had been invited to a seminar in mid-November.

The event would be hosted by the government-funded Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), whose council includes India's Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, said two other sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the matter was confidential.

It was not immediately clear if Myanmar's military government would also be invited to the event, which the sources said would be on the topic of "constitutionalism and federalism". No further details were given.

Widespread protest in Myanmar over the 2021 coup turned into a nationwide rebellion, with an armed resistance movement combining with some established ethnic armies to seize control of wide swathes of territory from the military.