The armies of India and Myanmar conducted a "coordinated operation" from February 17 to March 2 against insurgents in Myanmarese territory to avert a possible threat to the Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project, official sources said. However, the Indian Army did not cross the border during the operation, they said. The focus of the operation was to crack down on the members of the Arakan Army, an insurgent group in Myanmar, the sources said. The members of the Arakan Army had also moved close to the international border along Mizoram, they said. The sources added that during the operation, the Indian Army beefed up the security along the border from Nagaland and Manipur to ensure that the insurgents do not cross over to the Indian side. The Indian Army also helped the Myanmarese Army by providing them intelligence, they said. There were also inputs that some members of the Arakan Army were also planning to sneak into India. The sources said setting up of camps by the insurgent groups was being viewed as a grave concern by armies of the two countries. The operation was also undertaken keeping in view the safety of Indian workers engaged in the project. After a series of meetings between personnel from both the countries, it was decided to carry out the coordinated operation. Additional troops were moved to the international border areas, besides deploying the Assam Rifles personnel. The Assam Rifles has the responsibility to guard the international border with Myanmar. The Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project is being viewed as India's gateway to the Southeast Asia. India entered into a framework agreement with Myanmar in April 2008 to facilitate implementation of the project. On completion, the project will help connect Mizoram with the Sittwe Port in Rakhine State of Myanmar. On the Indian side, work is on to extend the Aizawl-Saiha National Highway by 90 km to the international border at Zorinpui. PTI For in-depth, objective and more importantly balanced journalism, Click here to subscribe to Outlook Magazine<doc-sep>Even as India and Pakistan were in a tense stand-off in the third and fourth weeks of February on the Western Front, on the Eastern Front, the Indian and the Myanmarese armies were launching a coordinated effort to strike at positions of the so-called Arakan Army, which threatened a crucial connectivity project between the two countries. The Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport project connects Kolkata port with Sittwe seaport in Myanmar, providing an alternative route to and from India’s northeastern states and reducing pressure on the Siliguri corridor. The project will also connect Sittwe via an inland river system using the Kaladan river and highways to Zorinpui and Aizawl in Mizoram. The Arakan Army, an insurgent group, has been threatening and trying to extort money from Indian fabricators working on the Kaladan project. At least one soldier of the Myanmarese army was critically injured in an improvised explosive device blast, said a senior army officer who did not want to be named. India’s role in the operation was to ensure the rebels did not cross into its territory and escape, and to this end, at least 10,000 Indian troops (Assam Rifles units) were deployed along the Indo-Myanmar border between February 17 and March 2, according to senior army officials. The first army officer said at least 12 positions of the Arakan Army were destroyed by the Myanmarese army, and many of the “1,500-off rebels” taken into custody. The Arakan Army, which has not signed the Myanmar government’s Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement of 2015 with militant groups, has been blamed for a string of attacks in Rakhine state since the beginning of the year. It was declared a terrorist organisation after it killed 13 policemen in coordinated attacks in Rakhine on January 4. On March 9, the group killed nine policemen in an attack on a post in Rakhine. Formed in 2009, it is aligned with the Buddhist minority of Rakhine and is believed to have several thousand trained and armed members. It is part of the Northern Alliance — a conglomerate of four rebels groups comprising the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) . The TNLA, MNDA, and the KIA have all been linked to China in the past. The group originally had camps in Kachin state close to the border with China but it has moved to Rakhine and Chin states in recent years and established several bases, including some close to the Kaladan transit and transport project. The group carried out several ambushes that affected supplies for the project. The operation, coordinated by the Indian Army and external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), was conducted after extensive surveillance with satellites and drones, HT learns. An official in India’s security establishment said on condition of anonymity that the possibility that the Arakan Army was targeting Kaladan at the behest of an “interest inimical to India” cannot be ruled out. While the officers confirmed that India and Myanmar were in touch diplomatically ahead of the operation with the two armies holding several meetings to plan it, it was by no means a cross-border strike. “We operated in coordination with the Myanmar Army and our main aim was to prevent elements of the Kachin Army from moving into India,” said a second senior officer in the military establishment, who did not want to be named. “We don’t need to cross the Myanmar border because there is a mutual understanding on both sides and the Myanmar army largely obliges with whatever we ask them for,” said a third senior army officer closely monitoring the north-east. Among other things, India shared radio sets with the Myanmar Army for “ease of communication and to prevent incidents of friendly fire”. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is the nodal agency for the implementing the Kaladan project. According to an IWAI official, who asked not to be named, India has already completed one phase of the project. (With inputs from Padma Rao Sundarji and Anisha Dutta)<doc-sep>In a two weeks long joint operation by India and Myanmar against the Rohingya insurgent groups Arakan Army and Naga terror group NSCN(K), the countries launched a massive crackdown destroying several camps of the terror organisations. NSCN (K) is Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) and a designated terror group in India. The groups had planned attacks against India's connectivity projects in the east like the Kaladan multi-modal project. The project is vital for the connectivity of north-east India with the ASEAN countries and is also important for India's act east policy. Arakan Army had set up bases along the India-Myanmar border especially around the Mizoram state. Myanmar terror group Kachin Independence Army (KIA) had been training the Arakan Army along the China Myanmar border in northern Myanmar's Kachin state. In the first phase operation was launched against the camps bordering Mizoram while in the second phase NSCN (K) HQ in Taga was targetted. It is being reported in local papers that the Myanmar army has taken many leaders of NSCN (K) after the operation at their base at Taga in Sagaing division of Myanmar. Sagaing division is an administrative region of Myanmar and located in the north-western part of the country bordering India. The development comes even as India launched strikes against the camps of the United Nations listed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad in February.<doc-sep>NEW DELHI: Around a dozen insurgent operating bases and camps have been “smashed” along the India-Myanmar border, with the armies of the two countries working in close coordination to eliminate threats in the region, especially to the ongoing Kaladan multi-modal transit project to boost connectivity in the north-east.Even as the Myanmar army has stepped-up operations against insurgent groups operating in its territory since January, Indian forces have reinforced their positions with an additional 15 infantry and Assam Rifles battalions, Special Forces and drones along the entire 1,643-km long land border in a major operation code-named “Operation Sunrise” to prevent any “spill-over”, said security establishment sources on Friday.“Myanmar Army, in its latest operation conducted in its Chin state opposite South Mizoram from February 17 onwards, has destroyed 10-12 camps of the Arakan Army, an insurgent group based in Myanmar that is closely associated with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which has links with China,” said a source.Earlier, towards end-January, the Myanmar army had undertaken “flushing out” operations at Taga area in its Sagaing division, where the general headquarter of Indian insurgent group NSCN (Khaplang) and camps of ULFA (I), NDFB (S) and Manipuri-origin outfits are located. “The Myanmar army has established a base at Taga to get all militants to vacate their camps,” said the source.“This shows the enhanced level of bilateral military cooperation to clear camps of insurgent groups – whether from India or Myanmar – from the border areas through joint operations and intelligence-sharing. Though NSCN (K) has a regional ceasefire in Myanmar, the two countries have agreed not to let insurgent camps thrive in the border areas,” he added.The latest operation across Borders Pillars 1 to 9 in south Mizoram was conducted because it was assessed Arakan army insurgents were posing a threat to the Kaladan project, which envisages connectivity between the Kolkata port and Sittwe Port in Myanmar and then through riverine transport and by road to Mizoram.“The Arakan Army, which is well-trained at planting IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and heavily into extortion, had moved some of its cadres to south Myanmar from their bases in the north. Consequently, there was a threat to Indian construction workers in the Kaladan project,” said another source.Incidentally, Indian Para-SF commandos had conducted a crossborder raid to destroy two insurgent camps inside Myanmar just a few days after 18 Indian soldiers were killed in an ambush in Chandel district of Manipur in June 2015.Though it led to some heartburn in Myanmar, the two countries have since then stepped-up coordinated patrolling between their armies along the porous border to mount pressure on Indian insurgent groups operating in the region. India has also stepped up its military training and supplies to Myanmar in recent years to counter China’s strategic inroads into the country.<doc-sep>
Representational image I Photo credit: PTI | Photo Credit: PTI New Delhi: The armies of India and Myanmar in a joint operation during February 17 to March 2 dismantled the terror camps inside Myanmar territory against insurgents in order to avoid a possible threat to the Kaladan multi-modal transit project which is vital to North-East India, reported the news agency PTI. The Indian Army did not cross the border during the operation. The Kaladan multi-modal transit project will link India’s north-east to Myanmar. The target of the joint operation was the insurgent group Arakan Army, the report said. The insurgents had moved close to the international border with Myanmar along the state of Mizoram, the report said. The Indian Army beefed up security along the border from Nagaland to Manipur to make sure the insurgents do not cross the border and move into India. The Arakan Army is a designated terror group by Yangon. The Indian Army provided intelligence to the Myanmar Army during the operation. The Indian Army had intelligence report that the members of the Arakan Army planned to cross-over into India. The armies of the two countries were concerned about reports of the insurgent group setting up camps. A large scale joint operation was launched by the Indian and Myanmar armies to flush out the insurgents which posed a threat to the coveted project inking Mizoram to Myanmar. The first part of the operation targeted the camps near Mizoram while the second phase of the operation targeted the deadly Naga group NSCN(K). The operation include the Special Forces, and the Assam Rifles of the Indian Army.