Myanmar’s War at Northeast Borders: Implications for India
Asia News Agency
Myanmar Air Force jets have been targeting ethnic Chin insurgent camps along the Taui river, which runs along the border with India.
Fallout in India
The concern for India is that Chin insurgents fighting Myanmar’s junta, are using Mizoram as a logistical base. Last year, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) discovered networks trafficking tonnes of explosives for insurgents. Some Mizoram residents are fighting alongside insurgents they regard as kin.
The renewed flow of arms into the region, writes Praveen Swami (National Security Editor at ThePrint) “and the rising tide of Zo ethnic-nationalism fuelled by atrocities in Myanmar, are blowing the fallout from the war into India.”
Following the coup of 1988, and now again in 2021, the refugees have been coming from Myanmar. Fleeing air strikes and. massive military operations, refugees have also been arriving in Thailand and Bangladesh.
Leaders in Mizoram believe New Delhi should be doing more to pressure the Tatmadaw (military junta) to end the civil war and restore democracy. Living along the border with Myanmar, ordinary Mizos have also been calling for a more muscular Indian military posture, which would deter the Tatmadaw from striking Chin villages. The Tatmadaw, though, writes Swamy “has been a reliable partner for India, working with it to crush Naga and Manipuri insurgents.
“Facing a dilemma, New Delhi has been silently mulling its option—but the rising tempo of war in the borderlands means the time for cogitation is running out.”
Relationship between the refugees arriving from Myanmar and the Mizo
But, writes Swamy “the relationship between the refugees arriving from Myanmar and the Mizo has been less than perfect. The influence of the Church ensured prohibition remained in force across Mizoram until 2015. Ethnic Chin migrants were blamed, rightly or wrongly, for running the small-scale distilleries that proliferated across several Aizawl neighbourhoods. Trafficking of heroin, and later methamphetamine, trafficked from Myanmar, ravaged Mizo communities.
“Through the last decade, organisations like the Young Mizo Association (YMA)—a powerful network that some have linked to a parallel government—have repeatedly called for the eviction of some refugee groups like the Bru and Chakma.”
Emergence of Zo nationalism
For all these frictions, though, “Zo nationalism has emerged as a genuine force among young Mizos—a means to assert their identity both in the Northeast and in an India that, for the most part, fails to acknowledge their existence. In 2015, when landslides destroyed hundreds of homes in Chin, YMA volunteers sent truckloads of aid. Local churches organised aid drives, while Mizo celebrities staged fundraisers at Aizawl malls.
“Like with ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka or Bengali Hindus in Bangladesh, the violence against the Chin has unleashed growing anger across Mizoram. The participation of young Indian nationals in the Chin insurgency, though small in number, illustrates the rage. India will have to be able to show it is on the side of its own people."
