Indian PM Modi says met Myanmar junta head in Bangkok

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X that he met with Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing on the sidelines of the a summit in Bangkok on Friday.

The junta chief is on a rare international trip a week after parts of his country were devastated by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake, which left over 3,100 people dead.

Protesters displayed a banner calling Myanmar's junta chief a "murderer" as he joined the BIMSTEC summit, a week after a huge earthquake killed thousands, leaving desperate survivors pleading for food and shelter.

Many nations have sent aid and rescue teams, but on the ground in some of the worst-hit areas there is little sign of Myanmar's ruling military helping survivors.

Junta leader under global sanctions

The decision to invite him has drawn criticism, and outside the venue protesters hung a banner from a bridge reading: "We do not welcome murderer Min Aung Hlaing."

The veteran general ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in a 2021 coup, triggering a bloody civil war, and has been accused of war crimes and serious human rights abuses.

Rescuers work at the site of a building that collapsed, in the aftermath of a strong earthquake, in Mandalay, Myanmar, March 30, 2025. Reuters

Min Aung Hlaing is under multiple global sanctions and the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has sought an arrest warrant for him for alleged crimes against humanity committed against Rohingya Muslims.

Airstrikes continue despite earthquake

Even as the Myanmar people struggled with the aftermath of the quake, the military carried out air strikes on rebel groups, drawing angry condemnation from international powers.

But the junta chief was given red carpet treatment by the Thai government as he arrived for the meeting with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and other leaders from Bay of Bengal nations.

Shunned and sanctioned by many Western countries since the coup, the junta has turned to close allies Beijing and Moscow for support as it struggles to get the upper hand in a complex, multi-sided civil war.

BIMSTEC is Min Aung Hlaing's first foreign trip outside of China, Russia or Belarus since he attended another regional summit in Indonesia in 2021 soon after the coup.

The Bangkok meeting affords the isolated leader a rare chance for face-to-face diplomacy with key regional powerbrokers including Modi.

BIMSTEC host Thailand has proposed that the leaders issue a joint statement on the impact of the disaster when they meet on Friday.

* With input from Reuters