Risks of India getting sucked into Rakhine conflict https://nenow.in/north-east-news/mizoram/risks-of-india-getting-sucke...

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Risks of India getting sucked into Rakhine conflict

by SUBIR BHAUMIK , September 24, 2021 2:47 pm

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A new book – “Irrawaddy Imperatives” by a serving Indian army brigadier Jaideep Chanda has pointed to the risks involved in Delhi getting militarily ‘sucked’
into the Rakhine conflict in Myanmar.

“That the Arakan Army has support in Mizoram is an understatement. There seems to be institutional support as evidenced during Operation Sunrise II, the
coordinated operation conducted by the Indian army in collaboration with Myanmar armed forces. Protests were lodged by the Mizoram government against
the deployment of the army and the rounding up of people by the army, ostensibly for screening and briefing,” Chanda says in the book.

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He further adds: “The major conclusion that comes to the fore as a result of this study is that for any Indian intervention in the Rakhine conflict, the Mizoram
angle has to be factored in. This is especially relevant in light of the fact certain observers have drawn comparisons with the Arakan Army and the Sri
Lankan terror group, LTTE.”

The warning is against Myanmar army doing a Jayawardene by dragging India into what is essentially a domestic conflict of a neighbouring nation.

Chanda has referred in the book a classified Secret PM Secretariat paper dated 18 March, 1968 which was written by legendary editor BG Verghese, then
handling the media section in PMO.

In this five-page paper titled “Proposal for a Road–River Link from the Mizo Hills district to Akyab (now Sittwe) in Burma”, Verghese had said that the “outlet to
the sea from the Mizo Hills district to Akyab (now Sittwe) through the Burmese territory could be very valuable.”

Bangladesh was then East Pakistan and there was no way Islamabad would grant a sea access to Northeast India through its territory, as the India friendly
Sheikh Hasina government has now agreed to provide.

India reverted back to the Verghese idea in the first half of this century when an unfriendly Bangladesh government headed by then PM Begum Khaleda Zia
not only turned down a gas pipeline project through Bangladesh but also refused access between Indian mainland and its northeast through Bangladesh.

The basic compulsion for the Kaladan project was uncertainty over use of Bangladesh (previously East Pakistan) for accessing the Northeast from the Indian
mainland.

“Irrawaddy Imperatives” is a refreshingly original take on India Myanmar relations in recent times. Without using the word doctrine, the author has, in effect,
written a doctrine for India Myanmar relations, which is best described as the Irrawaddy Doctrine.

The book is timely given the present situation in Myanmar though it was completed well before the coup.

It provides an exhaustive insight, from a soldier’s perspective, into Myanmar’s place in India’s security matrix, and surprisingly, despite being written by an
army officer, does not confine itself to the narrow prism of security studies.

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Jaideep Chanda’s military and intelligence background has brought to the book both a feel of the ground and also an academic rigour evident in the original
documentation that has gone into the book. We'd like to show you notifications for the latest
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The use of the personal papers of top veteran diplomats MA Rauf, Baleswar Prasad, YD Gundevia and that of SAS Tyabji, has enriched the book.

Chanda seeks to create what he describes as “Myanmar Consciousness” in India at a Cancel Allow
time when Delhi’s diplomatic focus has shifted to Afghanistan and it has
failed to play any meaningful role in Myanmar after the Feb 1 coup.

He argues that Myanmar holds the key to the success of India’s Act East Policy to connect to Southeast Asia by land, much as Afghanistan is important for
Delhi’s attempted outreach to Central Asia from the Chabahar port in Iran, which India has financed like the renovation of the Sittwe port.

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Home  Northeast News  Nagaland

Naga political issue: There can be only ‘one agreement one

solution’, says ex-Nagaland CM TR Zeliang
by NE NOW NEWS NEW DELHI , September 24, 2021 1:07 pm

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Former Nagaland chief minister TR Zeliang has said that “there can be only one agreement and one solution” in regards to the vexed Naga political issue.

Zeliang said this after meeting new interlocutor to the Naga talks – AK Mishra at the Nagaland House in New Delhi on Friday.

“… it is time to make a common approach to the Govt of India as there can be only One agreement and One solution. Either we live as One or disintegrate as
Individual, it is vital to ponder and act now,” said Zeliang.

He added: “With finalization of having only one interlocutor, the GoI has once again listened to the voice of the people and is a wise and positive step taken
towards attaining a solution.”

Also read: Mishra’s appointment as interlocutor has set Naga talks in motion, says NSCN-IM

The former Nagaland chief minister further expressed hope that from now onwards the Naga talks are likely to move ahead in the “right direction”.

“It is evident that the stalemate between the negotiating parties has thawed and talks would be carried forward in the right direction, so that amicable
agreement could be reached at the earliest for permanent peace in our land,” former Nagaland CM TR Zeliang said.

Zeliang added: “I am confident that the peace talks would now have smooth sailing and attain the much-desired result.”

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