It’s Surgical Strike 3..! India, Myanmar execute joint operation against Rohingyas eliminating threat

New Delhi, March 15: While the entire world and India focused on Pulwama terror attack and the Balakot airstrike carried out in its aftermath, the Indian Army carried out a mega operation to eliminate threats posed by insurgents along the Indo-Myanmar border. In a joint operation between Indian and Myanmar armies were carried out from February 17 and March 2 to thwart a threat to a mega infrastructure project vital for the Northeast. The threat was from an insurgent group in Myanmar.

While the focus in India and outside remained on the western border, the Indian Army silently carried out a major operation on the eastern front targeting the so-called Arakan Army, an insurgent group reportedly being raised by the Kachin Independence Army, which is designated as a terrorist group by Myanmar.

The attack was carried in order to protect the mega Kaladan Project which was under threat from the Arakan Army. The Kaladan Project is a transit project will connect Kolkata to Sitwe port in Myanmar. The project will finally end up linking Mizoram and will be a new gateway to the landlocked Northeast. The project will reduce the distance from Kolkata to Mizoram by nearly a thousand kilomteres and bring down the travel time by at least four days.

With intelligence assessments point to threats to the Kaladan Project, the Indian Army planned a mission to flush out insurgent groups that had set up bases south of Mizoram in Myanmar. Large scale joint operations were launched by the Indian and Myanmar armies. The first phase targeted newly constructed camps bordering Mizoram. Part two targeted the deadly Naga group, NSCN (K); its their camps were destroyed up north around 1000 kms away bordering Arunachal Pradesh.

The deployment for the operation included Special Forces of the Indian Army, Assam Rifles and other infantry units. Helicopters, drones and other surveillance equipment were also used during the operations to make an accurate assessment of movement of the insurgent groups and their camps. "In the last two years the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) that trains the Arakan Army in the Kachin State of Myanmar adjoining China had readied around 3000 cadres that moved to the South closing in on areas adjoining the Lawngtala district of Mizoram," said a senior officer in the security establishment.

These were exactly the areas that cut through the proposed Kaladan Project that will link Sitwe in Myanmar to Mizoram, sources said. The Arakan Army is also well trained in setting up Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) making the threat to the project and it workers even greater.