At Lengpui Airport in distant Mizoram, not far from the Myanmar border, a fascinating drama played out recently. On the runway, a large white military transport plane waited, its sides painted with the distinctive Burmese script. Bedraggled Myanmar soldiers, some barefoot, others without knapsacks or full uniforms, none with weapons, sat on the ground outside, looking exhausted. A group of weapon-wielding and fit Assam Rifles soldiers stood guard.
The aircraft was waiting to take them home. The next day, as the transport plane attempted to take off, the aircraft slid off the runway and crashed on a slope, another sad chapter in the lives of those forlorn looking soldiers. No one was killed but the plane was a wreck. That day, the phone lines buzzed furiously between Delhi’s top officials and the Mizoram government, the latter stunned by the unexpected turn of events.
The airport was closed for the rest of the day — the plane had to be made safe, the gasoline tanks emptied, the refugee-soldiers treated for injuries and a day later flown out in two military transport planes sent by Yangon.
This was not the first lot of soldiers who had fled battles in Myanmar’s neighbouring Chin State from a combination of rebel groups, essentially the Chin National Army and the People’s Defence Force. Not less than 500 are said to have escaped fighting in three separate events; 45,000 Chin refugees are sheltering in Mizoram after the 2021 coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy after it won a landslide victory.
Today, the Indian Government faces an unpredictable situation on its 1,640 km eastern border with Myanmar: The Myanmar army and authorities have disappeared from across the white-and-red-coloured bridge that marks the border in Zokhawthar over the river Tiau. Flags of Chin National Front were everywhere and entry was regulated by rebel groups. Large swathes of Chin State and Sagaing Region, which are on the border with Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland as well as Arunachal Pradesh, have fallen to rebel forces which are describing these as “liberated zones”.
The CNF has announced an autonomous Chinland Council. With an eye to Delhi and issues in Manipur, it has promised to block illegal trafficking in drugs and arms and non-interference in India’s internal matters. “We were surprised by how quickly the army posts fell”, said one opposition leader. He said that rebel advances in different parts of the multi-ethnic country showed a weakness in the army — it was greatly undermanned. But he acknowledged that it was unlikely that the military regime in Yangon would fall as it still had firepower and artillery to take back townships they had lost.
In the town of Paletwa, which fell to a swift campaign by another ethnic armed group — the Arakan Army — the army has hurled a fierce counter attack by ground troops backed by airstrikes and artillery. Paletwa is critical to the rolling out of India’s ambitious Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project which seeks to connect Kolkata with the Sittwe port in Rakhine State. It is to be connected to Mizoram by road and the Kaladan river which flows by Paletwa. The Arakan Army is apparently seeking to push further to other strategic targets but may face a conflict with Chin rebel forces, for these are seen as Chin-majority regions.
Home Minister Amit Shah’s statements on building a border fence and ending the Free Movement Regime (FMR) need to be viewed in the light of these escalating developments and as an effort to protect Indian security interests. The announcements have drawn fierce opposition from different states saying that it would break bonds between fraternal communities divided by a border drawn up arbitrarily by the British. The FMR permits people to enter 16 km into each other’s countries. The idea is to enable families, small traders and others to maintain connections dating back centuries.
Government and even local groups agree that the facility has been misused to enable movement of armed groups and illegal shipments of weapons and narcotics across lightly guarded and tough forest paths as well as the prized areca nut which is in huge demand for making supari, pan masala, gutka. Calls for fencing the border have been strongest from the beleaguered Chief Minister of Manipur, N Biren Singh, whose state remains racked by violence, largely between Kuki and Meitei armed groups. Singh says that Kuki fighters are moving people and weapons across the border although analysts point out that other insurgent groups from Manipur and Nagaland also have bases in Myanmar’s frontiers.
The fence is a different proposition. It is a long-term project, hugely expensive and highly challenging given the difficult terrain. Work parties would have to deal with local resentments over efforts to sever old familial relations. Meanwhile, China has been active on its southern border, having forced a truce between powerful Shan groups and the junta. Neither the military regime nor rebels are happy because China’s main objective is to secure its large investments and infrastructure assets, especially in Myanmar’s mineral, oil and gas-rich areas.
This raises an important issue — India too has economic interests in Myanmar, some in rebel-held areas. Recently, the Centre urged all Indians in Rakhine State, as the Arakan Army surged, to leave as it was highly unsafe. India has not retreated from its support to the army dispensation in Myanmar. Yet, Delhi needs to heed conditions on the ground: Rebel armed groups, some of which have been fighting the Myanmar army for over 70 years, are unlikely to be able to march on the capital of Naypyidaw, yet those controlling parts of Chin State are the new reality of the neighbourhood.
A senior security official says that the lack of cohesion among rebel groups also means that the junta is unlikely to collapse until replaced by a more sustainable system. Neither China nor India are likely to change their current policies till such a viable process is in place.
Although it is in this larger context that the Centre’s announcement about the FMR has to be seen, yet the decision flies in the face of official policies of Neighbourhood First and Act East. Former Ambassador to Myanmar Gautam Mukhopadhyaya warns against deciding complex issues in haste. He noted that “…the kinship and tribal ties are such that they will not be curbed by the measures. Rather, the same kinship that binds them to their fellow tribals in India could be turned against us.”
Hazarika is an author and columnist based in the Northeast
In Pak poll outcome, key question: Whom does New DelhiPremium Story
UPSC Key, February 12: What you should read today andPremium Story
What goes on inside a postpartum care centre for newPremium Story
Chhagan Bhujbal: 'We’ll create fear of losing OBC votes amongPremium Story
‘Don’t see govt role (in enforcing tech laws) expanding’: RajeevPremium Story
Tavleen Singh writes: A caste census. Seriously?Premium Story
Spot the difference: Cabinet and Parliament on AyodhyaPremium Story
‘Heavy, but phenomenal’: Developer's first-hand account on using Vision ProPremium Story
There is a bristling Myanmar context to decisions on building a border fence, ending Free Movement Regime
7
1
13.02.2024
At Lengpui Airport in distant Mizoram, not far from the Myanmar border, a fascinating drama played out recently. On the runway, a large white military transport plane waited, its sides painted with the distinctive Burmese script. Bedraggled Myanmar soldiers, some barefoot, others without knapsacks or full uniforms, none with weapons, sat on the ground outside, looking exhausted. A group of weapon-wielding and fit Assam Rifles soldiers stood guard.
The aircraft was waiting to take them home. The next day, as the transport plane attempted to take off, the aircraft slid off the runway and crashed on a slope, another sad chapter in the lives of those forlorn looking soldiers. No one was killed but the plane was a wreck. That day, the phone lines buzzed furiously between Delhi’s top officials and the Mizoram government, the latter stunned by the unexpected turn of events.
The airport was closed for the rest of the day — the plane had to be made safe, the gasoline tanks emptied, the refugee-soldiers treated for injuries and a day later flown out in two military transport planes sent by Yangon.
This was not the first lot of soldiers who had fled battles in Myanmar’s neighbouring Chin State from a combination of rebel groups, essentially the Chin National Army and the People’s Defence Force. Not less than 500 are said to have escaped fighting in three separate events; 45,000 Chin refugees are sheltering in Mizoram after the 2021 coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy after it won a landslide victory.
Today, the Indian Government faces an unpredictable situation on its 1,640 km eastern border with Myanmar: The Myanmar army and authorities have disappeared from across the white-and-red-coloured bridge that marks the border in Zokhawthar over the river Tiau. Flags of Chin........
© Indian Express
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Mort Laitner
Rami G Khouri
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
