MYANMAR YES, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CHINA FOOTPRINT IN THE N-E?

NEW DELHI: China, which claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of ‘southern Tibet, began training and arming Naga insurgent groups in the 1960s with a view to pinning down the Indian army on counter insurgency (COIN) operations.

Trained and armed by China, the Naga insurgents struck terror into the Indian Army and security forces through bold and cleverly planned ambushes.

But in 1975, after protracted talks with the federal government, some Naga leaders signed the Shillong Accord under which the rebels accepted the Indian constitution and agreed to cease fighting. New Delhi provided them adequate time to formulate other issues for discussion and final settlement.

But dissenting Naga leaders like Isak Swu and Thuengaleng Muivah, whohad been trained in China formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) and continued to fight for an independent homeland under the slogan " Christ for Nagaland ".

This included Naga-inhabited areas of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

However, differences with the NSCN leadership led to its breakup in 1988 into the NSCN ( Isak- Muivah ) or NSCN-IM and the NSCN (Khaplang)or NSCN-K led by S S Khaplang both of whom had bases in Burma’s thickly wooded Somra Tract, contiguous to Nagaland and Manipur.

Besides fighting the security forces the two groups also fought each other and over years, fatalities including security personnel,civilians and militants mounted.

Other than money from drugs, smuggled in from Burma (a part of the Golden Triangle that included the opium producing states of Laos and Thailand), the two rebel groups imposed a monthly tax on all state residents, including the police and other government employees to fund their movement.

Receipts were issued for all collections, which were duly audited and the balance sheets published regularly in local newspapers like the Nagaland Post. The authorities had no authority to end this extortion that continues even today in Nagaland and Manipur.

All vehicles crossing into Nagaland were subjected to a " toll tax "just a few metres away from state run octroi posts. The NSCN- IM also imposed a " house tax "on every dwelling unit with a high rate of "voluntary compliance " which would be the envy of the most successful taxation regime.

After protracted negotiations the NSCN - IM and the federal government agreed to a cease-fire from 1 August 1997, which still holds. Talks thereafter between the federal government and NSCN-IM leaders in various locations around the world have made little or no progress with successive administrations and multiple interlocutors appointed by them.

Security sources indicate that the government is waiting for the ageing Swu and Muivah to die before making any definitive move to try and permanently resolve Nagaland and to some extend neighbouring Manipur.

Intelligence agencies, however, seem to ignore the possibility that after Swu and Muivah the militant groups could splinter under local commanders and pose a greater threat to the region.

The NSCN-IM continue to reiterate that their demand for Naga sovereignty is "non-negotiable " while federal officials are equally adamant in their opposition to the rebel groups demand for a " greater Nagaland”. The stalemate is unlikely to be resolved as it entails a re-drawing of state boundaries, which too is unworkable.

Thereafter the NSCN - K, which opposed the federal governments policy of negotiating Nagaland's future only with the NSCN-IM announced a ceasefire in 2001,but is yet to engage with the government in any dialogue.

For the government, involving NSCN-K posed a major "acceptability"problem, as Khaplang not only belonged to the Hemi tribe of Burma, but also operated from there. This was not acceptable to the NSCN-IM who considered him unrepresentative of the Naga people and their aspirations.

In March Khaplang called off the 14-year old ceasefire, calling it a ‘mockery and a futile exercise”.His group is believed to be responsible for the June 4 ambush of the army convoy in which 18 Dogra Regiment soldiers died.

Meanwhile, China's influence over Naga groups and interest in India’s northeastern region that ended in the early 1980s and shifted to Myanmar, showed signs of a revival around a decade ago.

Intelligence sources said Chinese arms began trickling into the region around 2005 via Bangladesh and reports on last week’s ambush indicate that sophisticated weaponry, including grenade launchers, was employed in the attack.

The Chinese are believed to have established an armaments factory in Myanmar, which reportedly is supplying arms to militant groups operating in the northeast.

If it is indeed, confirmed that rebel weaponry was sourced from China it would seriously embarrass the Modi government, unctuously cosying up to Beijing.

It would also present a dilemma for Modi with the possibility of the relatively dormant insurgencies re-igniting. There is enough local resentment for the varied militant groups, especially in Manipur, to tap into that could well turn the region into a violent tinder box.

The seven northeastern states remain largely unconnected to India's vast rail system and the entire region has been kept out of the massive federal infrastructural Five Year development plans.

Consequently, local industry, already of a basic, almost primitive nature crumpled and resentful locals became dependent on usurious and unscrupulous businessmen from the plains, who imported essentials into the area, selling them at astronomical prices. "The effects of Partition were never appreciated by the government in the northeast" a senior home ministry official responsible for the region said. "It remained a forgotten, isolated area " he added.

A series of legal and administrative measures, implemented by the colonial government between 1874 and 1935, which provided for separate and distinct identities of different northeastern regions were not scrapped even after 1947, further alienating the region.

An Inner Line was drawn marking the limit of revenue paying districts beyond which the tribal people were left to manage their own affairs.

Outsiders were prohibited from crossing the Inner Line without permission, a stipulation that is enforced to some extent in some areas even today.

This Inner Line became a frontier within a frontier adding to the seclusion of the hills, enhancing the political and cultural distance between them and the rest of India.

Culturally too, the Indian state dealt the northeast an unfair hand.

It conveniently clubbed together scores of ethnic groups, proud of their tribal traditions, " village republics " and traditional lifestyle as " Scheduled Tribes ", robbing them of all self-respect and community standing.

The continued imposition of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 (AFSPA) in Nagaland and Manipur- Tripura recently scrapped it-under which the security forces on COIN ops are provided near amnesty, has further exacerbated civil rebellion in the region.

Under the Act, all soldiers except jawans have the right to shoot to kill based on mere suspicion to "maintain public order”.

Without a warrant the army is empowered to arrest anyone who has committed, is suspected of having committed or is about to commit, a cognisable offence, using any amount of force necessary.