CALCUTTA: A week after Army chief General Shankar Roy Chaudhary called for a political solution to insurgency in the North East, the Army has claimed major successive rebels near the Mizoram border “it Myanmar, But the claims of a “big victory” by the Amy have been sountered by the United Liberation ront of Asom (ULFA).
Sources said, 59 rebels of the ‘People’s Liberation Army (PLA)and the ULFA were killed during a five week operation from April3 to May in cooperation with the Myanmar ‘Army. However, ULFA commander in chief Paresh Barua had told the BBC recently that casualties were not so heavy. The rebel column had broken through the security dragnet after a premature pullout by the Myanmar’s forces. This is not the first time that the Indian and Myanmar’s armies have collaborated, During 199293, insurgents in the northeast suffered heavy reverses after they were caught in a “pincer grip” between Myanmarese and Indian forces. At the time Yangon. Had intensified its Clive against Kachin rebels in northern Myanmar.
According to the BBC broadcast monitored in Calcutta, Paresh Barua admitted that his deputy Rupam Deka a.k.a, Mongpa Rongpi, was injured in action. But Barua claimed that the rebel column broke the encirclement despite fierce fighting.
Amy sources said the ant guerilla Operation code named “Golden Bird” ‘was conducted by the 57th Mountain. Division under Major General Narender Singh Gill. The forces also captured 54 extremists and confiscated 90 weapons, including rocket launchers.
In surgents in Manipur, Nagaland and ‘Assam are known to operate from bases in Bangladesh and Myanmar. The porous border over difficult terrain has made conflict “stabilization’ by the Army impossible. Depending on the political exigencies governing New Delhi’s tics with Dhaka and Yangon, the rebels move their bases from the Chittagong Hill Tracts to the Chin Hills or vice versa.
Information trickling in from Intelligence sources indicates that the rebels have regrouped in Myanmar and may try to enter Manipur by a circuitous route. Following this, the army has redeployed its forces from Mizoram to the Manipur Burma border.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 2, 1995