Nudged by Ajit Doval, Myanmar army hands over 22 NE insurgents

NEWS DELHI: The Myanmar military handed over a group of 22 northeast insurgents to the Indian government on Friday afternoon. The insurgents, wanted in Manipur and Assam, are being brought back by a special plane, people familiar with the development told the news agency.

“This is a huge step for the Myanmar government and a reflection of the deepening ties between the two countries,” a top government official said soon after an aircraft with a planeload of insurgents took off from Myanmar.

The plane first make a stopover in Manipur capital Imphal, before heading to Assam's Guwahati. “The insurgents would be handed over to the local police in the two states,” the official said

“This is the first time that the Myanmar government has acted on India's request to hand over leaders of the northeast insurgent groups,” a senior national security planner said about the operation driven by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.

This is seen as a result of increasing intelligence and defence cooperation between the two countries from both sides.

Among those deported by Myanmar are some senior and

long-wanted Indian insurgent

leaders such as NDFB (S) selfstyled home secretary Rajen Daimary, Capt Sanatomba Ningthoujam of UNLF and Lt Pashuram Laishram of PREPAK (Pro).

12 of the 22 insurgents are

linked to four insurgent groups in Manipur: UNLF, PREPAK (Pro), KYKL and PLA. The remaining 10 are linked to Assam groups such as NDFB (S) and KLO.

The treacherous terrain along India's over 1,600-km border with Myanmar makes the area ideal for camps of insurgent groups that have been fighting the Indian state for decades.

But pressure has been building on the insurgent groups over the last few years after the Myanmar military agreed to conduct operations.

Last year, the Myanmar army carried out continuous operations through February and March 2019 on the basis of pin-pointed intelligence provided by Indian security agencies.