Indo-Myanmar plan shakes insurgents

Mahendra Ved
Times of India: 31 December, 2006

New Delhi: As India and Myanmar prepare to launch a joint operation to evict insurgent groups operating from camps on the eastern flank of the Arakan ranges, the prospects, within nine months of the one that took place in Bhutan, have alarmed North-East insurgents.

So much so that the NSCN led by S S Khaplang, operating from camps in Myanmar, has threatened to negate the three-year-old ceasefire pact with the Centre. NSCN(K) has operated from its camps on Myanmar territory with impunity for long — even sub-letting these camps to Ulfa, Bodo and other insurgent groups. Its "finance minister", Kughalu Mulatonu, Number 3 in the hierarchy, has warned that if the government tried to "punish the Nagas", there could be "problems in other parts of the country".

Mulatonu asked the government to "satisfy the Nagas' aspirations for sovereignty... Otherwise, Nagaland will continue to be the breeding ground for terrorism."

The possibility of joint operations figured in the bilateral talks Myanmar head of the state, Gen Than Shwe, had here. Diplomatic sources told TNN that unlike another eastern neighbour Bangladesh, Myanmar acknowledges the presence of rebel camps which are too far and difficult to police for Yangon. Details were discussed when a Myanmar military delegation met Army chief, Gen N C Vij. A survey of the area and operational plans were being worked out and the operations could be launched "shortly", defence sources said.

The Indo-Myanmar talks come even as the Union government prepares to talk to the larger NSCN (I-M) led by Issac Swu and T Muivah in the last week of November. Hence, NSCN(K), the smaller, disparate, group "apprehends" — actually, warns of — violence and arson across the north-east.