During his three-day visit to Assam and Mizoram on Saturday (March 15), Union home minister Amit Shah waxed eloquent over the Narendra Modi government’s peace achievements in the north-east, a region allegedly neglected by all the previous governments.
But, expectedly, the home minister skirted the two most burning issues confronting the region today – ethnic strife in Manipur and Mizoram turning into a transit route for mercenaries, which includes Ukrainian war veterans meddling in the civil war in neighbouring Myanmar.
Mizoram CM flags foreign hand
No other than Mizoram chief minister Lalduhoma has flagged this alarming development in the state assembly stating that foreigners, including from the US and UK had recently entered Myanmar via Mizoram to provide arms training to insurgent groups.
Claiming that nearly 2,000 foreigners had visited Aizawl between June and December last year but were rarely seen in public, Lalduhoma said some of these nationals had previously participated in the Russia-Ukraine war.
To support his claim, he cited the arrest of British national Daniel Newey with live ammunition at Aizawl’s Lengpui Airport in June last year and the unannounced one-day visit by the US ambassador to India to Mizoram.
These developments have led the chief minister to conclude that China and the US are playing a role in shaping regional conflicts.
Also read: Mizoram urges Centre to raise ‘Mizo territorial force’
Security concerns
That the civil war in Myanmar has a bearing on the ongoing conflict in Manipur is something the security apparatus have been articulating ever since the outbreak of ethnic violence in the state in May 2023.
The Mizoram chief minister’s startling disclosure should only add to the security concern of India.
Significantly, Lalduhoma raised this issue after negotiating a peace deal with two rebel groups of Myanmar, much to the chagrin of New Delhi that has been keeping close ties with the neighbouring country’s ruling military junta.
Proposed Chin state
The deal was signed between the Chinland Council and the Interim Chin National Consultative Council (ICNCC) on February 26. The purpose is to promote reconciliation among various Chin groups to bring about unanimity in drafting a constitution for the proposed Chin State.
The armed wings of the Chinland Council’s Chin National Army (CNA) and the ICNCC’s Chin Brotherhood are waging an armed movement against the military regime for a separate Chinland, a proposed nation-state for the Chin people, an ethnic cousin of the Mizo-Kuki-Zo community in India.
After joining hands in Aizawl, the groups now plan to form a unified Chin resistance force against the junta.
Centre’s response
The Centre’s response to the developments so far has been ambiguous.
It is yet to react to Lalduhoma’s concern over his state being used by western countries as a passage to sneak into Myanmar. As for the peace deal, the foreign ministry issued a cryptic statement.
“We have seen some reports on the matter. Our position on the situation in Myanmar is well known. I would also like to reiterate that foreign policy issues do not lie within the remit of the state governments,” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal after the news of the peace deal became public.
Also read: Manipur crisis deepens as peace formula flops; Kukis mull referendum
Invitation to rebel group
In another related development, Mizoram’s Rajya Sabha MP K Vanlalvena recently invited a Chin rebel group to consider joining India considering deep ethnic ties between the Chin and Mizo communities. The Mizo National Front (MNF) MP even visited the headquarters of a Chin rebel group on the India-Myanmar border.
The MNF is a constituent of the BJP-led NDA.
The appeal assumes significance as the Chin rebels have taken control over most of the rural areas and some important towns of the Chin state in western Myanmar.
Junta banks on China
Meanwhile, the junta is banking on China to counter the losses it suffered to the joint offensives of ethnic rebel groups and pro-democracy People’s Defence Force (PDF).
The military regime in February promulgated the Private Security Services Law, which enables Chinese private security organisations to be stationed in Myanmar to protect Beijing’s interests in the country, reported The Irrawaddy, a leading media group of Myanmar.
The private security companies are staffed with retired People’s Liberation Army (PLA) personnel.
Chinese security presence may turn Myanmar into a theatre of conflicts between China and the West, as indicated by the Mizoram chief minister.
That situation will have a larger security ramification for India.
Shah praises Modi govt
Amit Shah is expected to address this security concern when he will go into a huddle to review the progress of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita with all the north-east chief ministers in Guwahati on Sunday (March 16), the last day of his three-day visit to the region.
In his public addresses in Assam and Mizoram, the home minister underscored the commitment of the Narendra Modi-led government for the development and peace of the region.
Prime Minister Modi has visited the north-east 78 times in the last ten years, as against only 21 times by his predecessors, Shah told a gathering in Aizawl.
Incidentally, in neighbouring Manipur the prime minister is criticised for not visiting the state even once after the ethnic violence broke out there in May 2023.
Further, at a programme in Assam he also said that the Bodo Peace Accord in 2020, Karbi Accord in 2021, Adivasi Peace Accord in 2022 and the peace pact with the ULFA in 2023 were signed during the tenure of the Modi government.
Centre’s biggest challenge
However, Guwahati-based political commentator Dipankar Roy disagrees. “These agreements are the fruitification of the spadework done by the previous governments,” Roy said.
The biggest challenge for the Centre in the context of the north-east currently is to establish peace in Manipur and chart an effective Myanmar policy keeping in mind the security interest of the region, failing which all the BJP’s tall claims of peace will come to naught, he pointed out.