Human Rights Watch (HRW) said India's air force chief, Marshal SP Tyagi, offered a multimillion dollar military aid package last month during a visit to Burma, one of the world's most criticised government for its gross violation of human and labour rights.

The package includes counterinsurgency helicopters, avionics upgrades of Myanmar's Russian- and Chinese-made fighter planes, and naval surveillance aircraft, HRW said.

 "It is shocking that a democracy like India would offer military assistance to Burma's brutal military dictatorship, which is likely to use that assistance against the civilian population," said Brad Adams, HRW's Asia director.

"The Burmese government's record shows that these weapons and special training are used as tools of repression, not of defence," said Adams.

Analysts said India's moving closer to Burma reflects New Deli's determination to curb China's influence in the military-run state but Adam described the decision to provide the Burmese junta with arms as "going too far".

 Last year, India halted military aid to Nepal after a coup by King Gyanendra. Yet India has shown no such restraint in Burma, a country with an appalling human rights record and no semblance of democracy. Human Rights Watch is particularly alarmed that such assistance has been offered while the Burmese army is mounting its largest operation in more than 10 years, with well over 50 military battalions moving through northern Karen State, HRW said in a statement.

Early this year, India sold Burma two BN-2 Islander maritime surveillance aircraft that it had brought from the United Kingdom in the 1980s. The aircraft were delivered in August despite the British government's objections that they were being supplied to a country under an EU arms embargo.

Although there was no specific end-user provision in the original sale, Britain's High Commissioner to India in January warned the Indian government that such a sale could affect further military transfers to India.

Britain has refused to continue to supply spare parts and maintenance to India's remaining Islander aircraft as a result.

Later this year, India sold T-55 tanks and 105mm artillery pieces to the Rangoon government.

HRW said the Burmese military routinely uses weapons such as artillery and mortars in conflict areas to destroy villages and displaced hundreds of thousands of villagers along the way.

Rebel armies said the displacing of villagers was part of the junta's strategy to weaken them as the ethnic nationalities continue to support them.

The Nation