Opening up the sky link, air connectivity : Choc-a-bloc security on land
- Sangai Express Editorial :: November 26 , 2013 -

Air connectivity between Manipur and Myanmar and Rs 5 thousand crore infrastructure with 41,000 BSF troops to man the Indo-Myanmar border. Trade and commerce with water tight security.

All under the shadow of the Look East Policy. Delhi seems to have checked and cross checked its priorities.

Open the eastern gate aerially and by land, yet at the same time do not compromise the security aspect.

This is the interesting point that can be read into the proposals mooted by Chief Minister O Ibobi to his counter parts from Mandalay and Sangaing provinces to establish regular air connectivity with the neighbouring country.

A point which has been backed to the hilt by the Indian envoy to Myanmar, Mr Gautam Mukhopadhyay to chart out a plan for direct flight connection between Imphal and Mandalay.

Falls perfectly in line with the Look East Policy of the Government of India.

Juxtapose this with the plan of the Centre to deploy 41 thousand BSF troops along the Indo-Myanmar border with a Rs 5 thousand crore infrastructure, and it is more than clear that to Delhi trade and commerce cannot come at the expense of security.

Goes well with the understanding of security and promoting international trade and commerce but there are certain points which should also be kept in mind.

Aerial connectivity is fine, but not all may be in a position to travel by air and this is where the understanding of security along the land route needs to be studied in its correct perspective.

Not an exaggeration, but strict security measures almost, always comes along with its baggage of inconveniencing the public or traders in this case and has the propensity to take a nasty turn in the form of harassing travellers both from those wanting to cross the border from the side of Manipur and those intending to come here from across the border.

This is where sensitising the security personnel cannot be discounted at any cost.

As things stand today, one has to come across numerous check posts on the way between Moreh and Imphal, where at one point, travellers are branded with a pen on the hand that he or she has been checked.

Branding animals is fine and though the human race is an animal, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth to be branded with a stroke of the pen.

An exercise which a token system can do.

The Government’s plan to beef up security and deploy as many as 41 thousand BSF troops to man the Indo-Myanmar border should also be understood in the backdrop of the fact that numerous North East militant outfits have found safe havens there.

Brings to mind the recent remark of the Joint Secretary of Home Affairs (in charge of North East) Mr Shambhu Singh that the Myanmar authority does not seem keen on cracking down on the militants holed up there.

Given the ethnic configuration as well as the battle of the turf and power politics in Myanmar, it will not be as easy as flushing out the militants or cracking down on their camps as it happened in Bangladesh or Bhutan.

With the Khaplang faction of the NSCN managing to extract a condition from the Myanmarese Government over his turf and with the Kachin Independence Army running its own show on its territory, it will take more than the LEP or air connectivity to flush out the numerous armed outfits from the North East ensconced in Myanmar.

The China factor should also be seen in the stand adopted by the Government of India as far as security along the border is concerned.

Free trade zone between Myanmar and Manipur, plus tight security at the border areas may or may not go along with the idea of promoting trade and commerce with the South East Asian countries, but it should be evident that to Delhi these two points complement each other.