16-Jun-2019: India, Myanmar conduct joint operation to destroy militant camps in Northeast
The armies of India and Myanmar carried out a three-week-long coordinated operation from May 16 in their respective border areas, targeting several militant groups operating in Manipur, Nagaland and Assam.
The first phase of “Operation Sunrise” was conducted three months ago along the Indo-Myanmar border, during which a number of camps of north-east-based militant groups were busted.
Myanmar is one of the strategic neighbours of India and shares a 1,640-km border with a number of north-eastern states, including the militancy-hit Nagaland and Manipur.
Sources said during “Operation Sunrise 2”, the armies coordinated with each other to bust camps of militant outfits, including the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland(Khaplang), the United Liberation Front of Assam (I) and the National Democratic Front of Boroland.
They said at least six dozen militants belonging to these groups were nabbed and several of their camps were destroyed during the operation, adding that the two sides might launch the third phase of the operation, depending on intelligence inputs and the ground situation. According to security agencies, there were over 50 camps of insurgent groups from the north-east in Myanmar till 2018.
Besides the Indian Army, troops from the Assam Rifles were also a part of the operation.
In June 2015, the Indian Army had carried out an operation against NSCN(K) militants in areas near the Indo-Myanmar border, days after militants killed 18 army personnel in Manipur.
In the first phase of “Operation Sunrise”, the Indian Army targeted members of the Arakan Army, an insurgent group in Myanmar, who were opposed to the Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project. The project is viewed as India’s gateway to Southeast Asia.
On the Indian side, work is on to extend the Aizawl-Saiha National Highway by 90 kilometers to the international border at Zorinpui.
15-Mar-2019: India helps Myanmar destroy 10 insurgent camps that ‘were a threat’ to its Kaladan project
The Indian and Myanmar armies have, in a coordinated operation, destroyed at least 10 camps belonging to an insurgent group in Myanmar, which had become a threat to India’s mega Kaladan Project in the neighbouring country.
The military action, carried out over the past month, was codenamed Operation Sunrise. ‘Joint operations’ between the Indian and Myanmar armies were carried out between 17 February and 2 March. The target was the Arakan Army, an insurgent group trained by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which is designated as a terrorist outfit by Myanmar. KIA is suspected to be supported by China.
Since 2015, the nearly 1,000 members of the Arakan Army had set up camps near the Kaladan Project, which had become a threat to the project and Indian workers there. The Arakan Army is believed to have left its bases in Kachin area, North Myanmar (adjoining China), to move down south. This southern region of Myanmar is located beside Lawngtala district of Mizoram. It is also exactly the areas that cut through the proposed Kaladan Project.
The Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project aims to connect the seaport of Kolkata with Sittwe, a seaport in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, by sea. In Myanmar, it will then link Sittwe seaport to Paletwa in Chin State via the Kaladan riverboat route, and then from Paletwa by road to Mizoram in northeast India.
Since the middle of last year, a series of meetings between the armed forces of both the countries were held to work out a coordinated operation, against the Arakan Army and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) or NSCN-K, a Naga insurgent outfit.
The Myanmar army has a ceasefire agreement with NSCN-K but still took over the group’s camps in Taga in February. Following this, the Myanmar Army began its operations against the Arakan Army.