Global ramifications

I’m still at the mortar attacks on the Indian troopers along the international border between India and Burma. It may be more or less boring to hear someone talking about a topic for some days at a stretch. I know that. But it is one of those things which may cause a shift in the paradigm of how this society tries to interact with other surrounding societies. It may be first glimmer of a just a feeble hint of how a huge change is underway in this part of the world.

First, I’ll tell you about the developments in the last few days.

You might remember that AR in a press statement said that the attack was from across the border and so, they lodged a complaint to the Burmese military. (Till this day there are no words about the Burmese military’s response).

Then, they came out with another press statement giving names, fathers’ names, addresses and the respective ranks in the insurgent army of three cadres of the rebel group, who, they said, were killed in the retaliatory fires by them. They said another four civilians were hurt and they were now hospitalized in a Tamu hospital. They said they had got the information from a cadre of the group arrested in Moreh.

The rebel group replied in a press statement that no cadre of theirs was arrested in Moreh in the last few days and the ‘drama’ of furnishing names of their cadres by AR is just laughable. They also said that the AR troopers were so scared by the intensity of the attack that they imagined it coming from across the international border.

That four civilians were hurt on the Burmese side of the border is a fact and they might as well be hospitalized in a Tamu hospital. It’s reasonable. But the AR authorities tried to mix up some propaganda in the above fact. It’s a very ingenious ploy and it is reasonable to assume that some senior and higher-level strategists were involved. Why going all this whole hog? To my mind, it is to send the message that one particular rebel group is in hand in glove with a military junta, though they claim to be struggling for democratic and sovereign rights of the people of Manipur. That means they are doing things which are solely the prerogatives of the civilian leadership. It’s very disturbing to see army troopers going into the domain of making political propaganda.

Besides, try to read this with the news that a students’ body was demonstrating in Delhi on the very next day of the attack and you can see that the diplomatic brigade in New Delhi is clutching on the straws. Because they tried every tricks in their diplomatic bags and nothing seem to work. You have to remember here that what we call Kuki or Mizo has a Burmese equivalent in Chin and they are concentrated in Chin state of Burma. This Chin people (whom we call Kuki or Mizo here) have been facing a constant but slow ethnic cleansing sponsored by the Burmese army. So anybody who has anything to do with the Burmese army is an enemy of the Kukis. So, the diplomatic think tank in Delhi is trying to utilize the last available option—to sow bad bloods between the Kuki, as a community and this particular rebel group. They are stooping pretty low. That said, it also signifies the fact that they are running out of options.

Running out of options? See how there was an arms shipment from the Indian on the 17th night and on the very next night there was a mortar attack from the Burmese side. This only shows the defiance of the Burmese military.

They may also be hinting at the message that arms shipments of 20/30 trucks are peanuts. They want them on a larger scale.

If that’s so, we are confronted with a very significant question. Who will want to see India sending significant arms shipments to a military junta, that also the one happening to rule the Orwellian state of Burma?

If we try to answer this question, we can easily see the global ramifications of the hush-hush diplomatic tussles underway in a sleepy border side village, called Moreh.