DIMAPUR, June 19 – A delegation of the Myanmarese military junta is arriving at Rangapahar cantonment based headquarter of the 3 Corps to discuss the modalities for flushing out armed rebels taking shelter in the jungles of Myanmar inside Indo-Myanmar border. Defence sources said that the military delegation from Myanmar would arrive in Dimapur by today. Even though, Army officials at 3 Corps have denied launching of any offensive jointly, sources in Manipur said the building-up of Army along Manipur-Myanmar border is a definite indication of launch of some kind of joint operation against NE rebels.
However, reports from Nagaland-Myanmar border areas show no signs of any unusual military movement or build-up on either side of the border.“No, we do not anticipate any clashes with either side because we are in better terms with both sides,” said a spokesman of the NSCN-K from Tuensang when asked if it expects any Army operation against its cadres in the border areas, adding that instead he had heard of possible military operations to be carried out against NSCN-IM cadres in Dimapur and Kohima because of incessant violation of ceasefire ground rules.
Chief of the Army’s Eastern Command had recently said that any joint border operation would depend on mutual consent and clearance from the political set- up. Sources here pointed out that while the situation in Manipur was troublesome in both border and urbane areas, in Nagaland the situation in the commercial hub Dimapur and capital town Kohima was much more disturbing than in the Nagaland-Myanmar border areas. It may be recalled that several militant groups, including the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) of Manipur and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), have set up training camps and established key bases in the Myanmar jungles.