Government and think-tank representatives from Myanmar and its neighbours, including India and China, held talks in New Delhi on Tuesday as part of a secretive effort to de-escalate a bloody crisis in the army-run nation, two sources said.

Myanmar was plunged into conflict in 2021 after its military overthrew the elected civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, triggering an armed resistance that it has sought to violently crush.

The talks this week were the second in a “Track 1.5” dialogue that started in Thailand last month and came as frustration grows within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) bloc at the military’s failure to implement a peace plan it agreed to in April 2021.

The sources, who asked not to be named and declined to identify the representatives because the process was confidential, said Myanmar, India, China, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos were present at Tuesday’s meeting, as was Indonesia, the current Asean chair.

One of the sources said participants were interested in bringing into the process Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), an organisation affiliated with the resistance and declared “terrorists” by the junta.

“They are wanting to talk to NUG at some point of time officially because the NUG and the Myanmar army haven’t spoken officially at all,” said the source.

India and Thailand’s foreign ministries, and the Chinese embassy in Delhi did not respond to queries, while Myanmar’s junta could not be reached. A spokesperson for Indonesia’s foreign ministry said he was not aware of the meeting.

The meeting was hosted by an Indian think-tank, the second source said.