Difficulties of Commitments
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: July 18 2015 -
The decision taken by India and Myanmar to fight armed groups active along the 1,640-km-long international border may not be an easy task as envisaged by the two countries albeit India’s commitment to modernise Myanmarese armed forces.
On Thursday, the Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) of the two countries discussed possible coordination between security forces of the two countries to deal with armed groups active along the Indo-Myanmar border areas.
A joint statement had announced that India and Myanmar entered a new phase in bilateral relations as expected. Given India’s commitment on modernisation of Myanmarese armed forces and India’s willingness to cooperate in the field of IT, economic and technological transformation, Myanmar is expected to give a positive response keeping in mind the necessity of further strengthening the friendly ties.
All the commitments given by India during the JCC meeting can be translated into reality only when New Delhi acknowledges the implications of taking actions on many armed ethnic groups that have entered into cease-fire truce with the Government of Myanmar.
Many of these groups had been fighting Yangon’s military rule for decades. The country as of now is in no position to launch offensive against those that have not broken the cease-fire.
This basically means that a group like the National Socialist Council of Nagaland led by SS Khaplang or the NSCN (K) may not feel the heat of the recent decision taken by India and Myanmar.
Both the countries have to consider the fact that ethnic minorities make up about a third of Myanmar’s population.
NSCN (K) has already entered into a cease-fire agreement with the Myanmar Government and the Nagas have a large presence in the country.
India should also note that NSCN (K) has fraternal ties with many armed groups in the Northeast and the outfit is capable of mobilizing support from these groups active in both Myanmar and India.
This has been amply demonstrated in the recent ambush on Indian army personnel in Chandel district on June 4.
If the outfit could be persuaded to re-enter into cease-fire mode again, all the commitments given by India to Myanmar could be taken forward.
Until then, there are slim chances of India easing its push eastward even if it makes promises galore on joint ventures for key sectors like hydro-electric power, mining, highways, oil and gas, etc.
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