NEW DELHI: Almost a week after one of the worst attacks on the Army in Manipur, it is now being reported that at least two officials of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) were in constant touch with the militant group, NSCN-Khaplang.
A senior government official told a section of the media that the insurgent group Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland -Khaplang (NSCN-K), who has claimed responsibility for the Manipur ambush along with KYKL and KCP , had abrogated the peace peace with the Indian government in March this year on the instructions of China’s PLA.
Quoting intelligence inputs, the official said that it was Paresh Baruah, ULFA’s leader who had convinced NSCN-K leader S S Khaplang to abrogate the ceasefire agreement with the Centre in March, adding that Baruah was only acting on the directives of the officials of China's PLA.
The leaders of both United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and NSCN-K often shuttle between Taga (Myanmar) and Ruili and Kunming - both in Yunnan province of China , and are in regular touch with the Chinese officials with the PLA officials directing them to carry out operations in India, indicating that the Manipur ambush too was carried out on their instructions.
It is also being reported that former Chinese PLA officer Muk Yan Pau Huang is running an illegal arms factory near the Indian border in Myanmar and the arms manufactured there are being supplied to the Myanmarese as well as the Indian rebels.
Another major revelation that the government official has made is that the phone intercepts and location details of the two Chinese officials who were in touch with the NSCN militants were already shared with Myanmar in April this year.
“We held a meeting with our Myanmar counterparts in April this year and handed over intercepts of phone conversations between two PLA officials and Khaplang, the leader of the insurgent group. In the said intercept, the Chinese PLA official asks SS Khaplang about his health, tells him to relax and asks him to learn Chinese language”, the government official is quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, the Indian Army has recovered the body of a second insurgent, who got injured in the Manipur ambush and later succumbed to injuries. The body was recovered yesterday from the jungles of Paraolon village in Chandel district i.e. near the ambush site and bore three bullet wounds. It is suspected that KYKL (Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup) cadre was left behind in the village after he succumbed to the injuries while being taken back by the insurgents.
At least 20 soldiers were killed and 11 others injured in an ambush in Manipur’s Chandel district on June 4. The 5 Dogra Convoy, headed from Motul to Imphal, was ambushed en route by the insurgents.
The insurgent groups have been active in Manipur with sporadic incidents keeping the Army on its toes. This has been a major attack after a long gap, although a while ago eight soldiers were killed, in batches of four each, by insurgents while they were going to fetch water. The number is high this time, and the fact that a convoy was ambushed raises questions about the fortification of the insurgent groups with cadres and weaponry.