With reference to two questions from you at Calcutta, [2] conveyed
through Taysom and Johnstone [3], the following are the answers.

(a) Burma. The Indian Government have no alternative but to show
interest in the Burmese imbroglio. The reasons for their interest
are several.

(i) Chaos in Burma leaves that country particularly susceptible to
Communism; this danger has become more real following Nationalist
reverses in China.

(ii) A Communist Burma or a Burma influenced by Communism would be
a potential threat to India's eastern flank.

(iii) India has had a good deal of trouble with her own
Communists, whose strongholds are in Calcutta and in the south.

Organised centres of Communism across the Bay of Bengal would add
to the Indian Government's problem.

(iv) There is a large Indian minority in Burma.

(v) India is interested in a stabilised Burma as a food producer.

(vi) If the Indian Government stands by and does nothing, they
face the possibility that Pakistan will capitalise things by
herself manifesting sympathetic interest in favour of the Burmese
Government.

(vii) Finally, the trend here is to show positive interest in all
area problems.

As regards the question why the Indian Government are supporting
the Burmese Government as distinct from other elements, the answer
is that no other group can safely be backed. The White Band
P.V.0's [4] are regarded as Communists and terrorists; the
Communists themselves are, of course, out of the question. It is
feared that both groups will fall under Chinese influence, if they
are not subject to it already. The Karens are a minority, and it
would be impossible for India actively to support them as a
Government of Burma, even if she wanted to. There is some sympathy
for the Karens in official quarters here, but it does not go
beyond a feeling that they should be granted an autonomous state
within the Burmese Union.