In a bizarre decision on Sunday night, the Union home ministry put India in an embarrassing situation by postponing home secretary-level engagement with Myanmar ostensibly on the pretext of relief operations Andhra Pradesh and Odisha that were hit by cyclone Hudhud.
The move to put off the important meeting, where India was expected to do some plain talk about the presence of Indian insurgent groups with Myanmar, came late in the evening, hours after Hudhud had made its landfall and had even lost much of its intensity.
A team of 14 officials, comprising senior officers from home ministry, ministry of external affairs and security agencies, was to leave early on Monday morning and a team of three officials had already reached Myanmar for advance liaisoning.
Embarrassing still, the official note conveying Union home secretary Anil Goswami's regrets to Myanmar was sent on Monday morning when the Indian team was supposed to be landing at Yangon.
Already postponed twice, the meeting was being held 8 months after its scheduled time and Myanmar had done all preparations for it, said sources.
Sources said that with prime minister Narendra Modi himself taking charge of relief and rescue operations along with a battery of officials, including cabinet secretary Ajit Seth and secretaries of various other ministries, there was adequate strength to take care of Hudhud and the meeting, being an international engagement should not have been missed.
Sources, however, attribute PM's personal interest in relief operations for Goswami's decision to postpone the meeting. It is, however, not known, if the PM had expressly asked Goswami to cancel the international commitment in face of the disaster.
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