ashok321
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NEW DELHI: The cross border strikes by the Indian Army against the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang in Myanmar since the NDA government came to power has cast a shadow over the visit of State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to India.
The strikes, not called ‘surgical’ at the time but following the same strategy as is defined now in relation to Pakistan, were denied by Myanmar for fear of incurring domestic anger but have reportedly figured at some legnth in official talks with Aung San Suu Kyi reportedly raising the issue directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Myanmar’s concerns on this issue have been reflected in the joint statement between the two countries, not once but twice, that stated: “both sides shared the view that maintaining security along the border is essential for the socio-economic development of the border area. In this regard both sides underlined their mutual trust for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and reaffirmed their shared commitment to fight insurgent activity and the scourge of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.”
And again in the very next paragraph, “both sides expressed their mutual respect for the already demarcated boundary between the two countries, and stressed the need to resolve outstanding boundary demarcation issues as soon as possible through existing mechanisms.”
This is a first for Myanmar and India. The State Counsellor who arrived on the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reported to have made it very clear that relations between the two neighbours would be impacted if New Delhi does not respect territorial integrity.
The Telegraph had an interesting detail that the Myanmar leader’s concerns followed a tweet put out by Minister of State for Home Affairs Kirren Rijiju,not usually given to chest thumping, where he said, "Short memory? Or is it a case of 'You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep'. Even MPs are asking, is it first surgical strike?" This is said to have been in response to questions raised at all party briefing on the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army in Pakistan. The newspaper reported that the tweet had been deleted shortly after it was put out.
Myanmar has faced reportedly two sets of strikes by the Indian Army that reportedly crossed the borders into the jungles of the nieghbouring country and hit the NSCN-Khaplang cadres. The first major strike intended to be a statement of new strategic policy from the NDA government was in June 2015 after the NSCN-K militants crossed into Manipur, ambushed an Army convoy, and killed 18 soldiers.
This ‘hot pursuit’ was denied emphatically by Myanmar at the time, even though it resulted in considerable chest thumping at this end. However, not many details were shared with Myanmar continuing to maintain that there were no such strikes at all. The Indian Army in its initial briefing had claimed that the strikes were along the border and not inside Myanmar territory, although special briefings to the media by the ‘sources’ made it clear that the soldiers had gone deep into the jungles across the border. And Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting R.Singh Rathore said the same on record.
The Indian Army has said that it destroyed several NSCN-K camps, that was denied by the militant organisation that claimed that it had suffered no losses at all. The Army claimed to have killed 38 NSCN-K cadres, a figure that coincidentally was mentioned also in source based media reports about the casualties suffered by Pakistan in the more recent surgical strikes across the border.
Reports in 2015, and again later, suggested that Myanmar had given tacit permission for the Indian Army to carry out the strikes on the NSCN-K camps. Conversely other reports claimed with equal force, that Myanmar had no knowledge about the operations. Either ways the triumphant assertions of success from New Delhi did not help matters, and there were angry muttered responses from across the borders about Indian high handedness, along with official denials.
Myanmar has been fairly cooperative in tackling Indian insurgent groups taking refuge in the jungles along the border. In the past, after sustained dialogue, Myanmar pushed back insurgent groups. However, similar action has not been taken against NSCN-K that continues to operate out of Myanmar, hitting Indian targets on this side of the border. The outfit takes refuge in Myanmar but has a clear understanding whereby its cadres do not operate within that country, reserving their gun powder for India.
The joint statement follows assurances by the Myanmar leaders that they will not allow their territory to be used by militant organisations. But at the same time the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Myanmar.
Significantly Rijiju was not too far off the facts in his tweet, as the similarities between the Myanmar ‘hot pursuit’ and the Pakistan ‘surgical strikes’ followed a fairly similar strategy as per the information that did reach the public domain. The difference of course lay in the politics, with Pakistan being ‘enemy’ country and Myanmar a ‘friend’.
-The strikes followed a terror attack on the Army in both instances. Pakistan militants attacked the Uri Army camp inflicting casualties; NSCN-K militants ambushed an Army convoy leaving 18 soldiers dead.
-The Indian Army crossed the borders in both cases. It went 3-5 kilometers deep into Pakistan, and also about the same range of 5 km into Myanmar.
-It claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties in both instances, reporting large scale deaths of militants in both Pakistan now, and Myanmar last year as a result of the precise military strikes.
-Both Pakistan and Myanmar denied the strikes, claiming that there had been gun battles only across the borders and the Indian soldiers had not crossed into the others territory.
