Modi to discuss Rohingya issue on Myanmar trip

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Myanmar today and discuss the exodus of the Rohingya ethnic minority with Aung San Suu Kyi's government, India's foreign ministry said Friday.

The two-day visit comes as renewed violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state forces thousands of Rohingya Muslims to seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh, with many drowning as they attempt to cross the border river in makeshift boats.

Modi will arrive in the capital Naypyidaw today on his way back from China after attending the BRICS summit, which also includes Russia, Brazil and South Africa.

"We will be discussing how India can help them in addressing the situation that is prevailing in the state," Sripriya Ranganathan, a senior official in India's foreign ministry, told reporters.

"Lot of countries are impacted... but ultimately it's for the government of Myanmar to address the situation," she said.

Rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have called on New Delhi to reconsider its plan to deport the Rohingya, reported AFP.

But Ranganathan said, "In so far as illegal immigrants are concerned there is a long standing and established procedure on the basis of Indian law which we will continue to follow, there is absolutely no change."

In Yagon, the prime minister will visit the Shwedagon pagoda and will go to martyr's mausoleum to pay tribute to Gen Aung San, the Burmese nationalist leader who was assassinated. Gen. Aung is father of Suu Kyi.

Modi will visit a famous Hindu temple and shrine of Bahadur Shah Zafar.

Ranganathan said the visit will be an occasion for India to not only review the ongoing development cooperation partnership but also to focus on new areas of engagement.

"We regard this visit as an important visit and one in a series of ongoing interaction which we hope will continue in future," she said, reports Times of India.