India to raise insurgent issues with Myanmar Home-Secretary level talks from tomorrow

S Satyanarayanan
Tribune News Service: 11 September, 2006

New Delhi: The 12th Home Secretary-level talks between India and Myanmar, which begin here on September 13, India will seek the cooperation of the eastern neighbour to flush out northeast insurgent groups operating from their country.

Union Home Secretary V K Duggal will lead the Indian side and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Brigadier General Phone Swe will head the Myanmarese side.

According to a top Home Ministry official, the Indian side would try to impress upon Myanmar to carry out Bhutan-type operations against insurgents groups like ULFA, NSCN (K), Peoples Liberation Army, and UNLF, NSCN (I/M) operating from their soil. Bhutan had launched an operation in 2003 against ULFA.

The relevant inputs relating to the whereabouts of different insurgent outfits present and operating from Myanmarese soil are expected to be passed on to the Myanmarese side, he said.

Steps needed to curb smuggling of arms and ammunition and illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances will also figure in the discussions.

In this context, India would press for formalising a mechanism to share intelligence information to check smuggling. India and Myanmar in their last meeting in Yangon in October last year had agreed to sharing of information.

Border management and fencing are some other issues expected to be discussed at the talks. India would take up the issue of speedy construction of fence in the More sector in Manipur to check smuggling.

The issue pertaining to dispute in Nine Border Pillars, all of which are in Manipur, is also expected to figure during the four-day meeting.

In the Home Secretary level meeting last year, both sides had agreed to further strengthen cooperation in tackling activities of insurgents, arms smugglers, drug peddlers and other hostile elements along the India-Myanmar border.

The status of various infrastructure projects in Myanmar, particularly in road and power sectors over which the two countries have agreed to cooperate, was also reviewed at the last meeting and a follow up was expected this time too.

India and Myanmar had signed an agreement for maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas in 1994, under which Home Secretaries of both countries were to meet once a year while Joint Secretaries were to hold sectoral meetings every six months. The last sectoral level meeting was held in Kolkata in July last year.