GUWAHATI, India - A rebel group in India's remote northeast said neighbouring Myanmar was preparing to launch a military action to drive Indian separatists from its soil. Yangon has moved in hundreds of soldiers to parts of northern Myanmar, said Kughalo Mulatonu, a leader of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) which is fighting for a tribal homeland in India's Nagaland state. | Is there anyone that doesn't want a homeland? |
"We're expecting attacks on our bases any time with Myanmarese soldiers building bunkers and moving large stocks of military hardware to the area," Mulatonu told AFP by telephone from Kohima, capital of Nagaland state. The group's statement came a week after Myanmar's military strongman General Than Shwe ended a visit to India with a pledge the secretive junta would not let Indian rebels operate from its soil. There was no immediate official comment from New Delhi but an Indian intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Indian troops were being deployed along the country's 1,640-kilometer (1,000 miles) with Myanmar. "We're aware of Myanmar planning some kind of an offensive against militants and so we're preparing to seal the border" to catch or force the rebels to surrender, the official said. The rebel leader said the NSCN had "about 5,000 members in 50 camps inside Myanmar with a wide range of weapons like rocket launchers, light machine guns, mortars ... to challenge the Myanmarese soldiers." | Socialist rebel thugs vs Myanmar government thugs, now that's entertaintment. |
At least four other militant groups from India's northeast where a myriad of tribal and ethnic groups are fighting for greater autonomy or independence have training camps in northern Myanmar's thick jungles, Indian intelligence officials claim. The last time Myanmar launched a military crackdown against the NSCN and other Indian rebels was in 2001. Nagaland's chief minister Neiphiu Rio said the government had seen "some (intelligence) reports about Myanmar trying to evict northeastern militants from that country." New Delhi says anti-Indian rebel groups use camps in Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan to launch hit-and-run attacks in India's northeastern states where militancy has claimed over 50,000 lives since the country's 1947 independence. Late last year, Bhutan launched a military operation to drive out Indian separatists from bases in the kingdom from where they had staged hit-and-run attacks on Indian targets. Bhutan said it had destroyed about 30 rebel camps. | The survivors seem to have moved to Bangladesh, wouldn't be surprised if these guys did the same, the leaders at least. |
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