June 4: The Centre tonight asked the army to launch operations against "militant camps" without publicly specifying their locations, hours after the Manipur attack was viewed by the security establishment as a "turning point".
On either side of Mount Saramati, the highest point on the India-Myanmar border at 13,000 feet, lie villages peopled by tribes found in both countries.
It is from among these villages that New Delhi suspects the attackers who killed 18 soldiers in Manipur's Chandel district to have emerged.
Mount Saramati is on the border of Nagaland's Mon district and Myanmar's Sagaing province. It sweeps southwards to the border in Manipur where Moreh is a trading point. The attackers came across the border that is unmanned, it is suspected.
They laid an ambush on the road from Tengnoupal and, as an "adam convoy" (administrative convoy) of four to seven vehicles reached the spot, the attack was launched. The attackers detonated country-made mines and opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) - called "Lathods" - on the soldiers of the 6 Dogras, according to reports reaching army headquarters.
This was the first time the Indian Army had lost 18 soldiers in a single strike in 20 years. It was also the first time that RPGs were used by insurgents on the army.
This is a "turning point" for New Delhi's operations in the Northeast, a highly placed source in the security establishment said in the afternoon.
Such a phrase was used probably because the security establishment now believes that a series of attacks in the region, including two in Arunachal Pradesh and three in Nagaland, is the result of the newfound camaraderie among the Northeast's militant groups.
In April, an umbrella group of the United National Liberation Front of Western South East Asia was formed. The largest constituent of the group is said to be the NSCN (Khaplang), which "abrogated" a 14-year-old ceasefire with the government in April.
The confederation enjoys the support of at least five outfits that claim to have a base in Manipur - the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) the People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (Prepak), the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the United National Liberation Front (UNLF).
Three of these outfits - the NSCN(K), the KYKL and the KCP - this evening claimed responsibility for the ambush through a joint statement. Security sources see in this evidence that the outfits are operating together on the ground although they have yet to formally join the confederation.
The cadres of these organisations are said to be sheltered in camps in Myanmar's Sagaing and Kachin provinces. Myanmar's own armed forces, the Tatmadaw, have been requested by India for help many times. But the Tatmadaw is said to be too stretched in quelling Myanmar's own insurgencies to effectively patrol its border in rough terrain.
The Northeast umbrella group poses a never-before challenge for security forces.
"The attack at Chandel this morning will embolden other groups, especially in Assam. It was planned out in detail," said Brigadier (retd) Ranjit Borthakur, whose last posting was with the intelligence wing of the Eastern Command. "As for the weapons they have in the region, at least 90 per cent come over from the Chinese side," says Borthakur.
"The last such attack was in the early 1980s when more than 20 soldiers of the 21 Sikh Regiment were killed in Ukhrul district of Manipur," Borthakur said.
In the capital, at Union home minister Rajnath Singh's office this evening, defence minister Manohar Parrikar, army chief Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag, minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju and national security adviser Ajit Doval assessed the situation.
A second meeting decided to give the army the go-ahead to launch operations against the militant camps.
A central outfit - such as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) - is likely to register a case in the next two days.
Within Manipur, at least 40 militant groups are active. Around 30 groups of the Kuki community exist - their demands ranging from safeguarding the community's interests to creation of a Kuki state within the framework of the Indian Constitution.
More than 25 Kuki groups are now in designated camps after signing agreements with the Centre and the state government to suspend operations since 2008.
Around 10 Meitei groups are also on ceasefire and are lodged in designated camps. Security sources fear the situation could turn volatile in a festering situation, especially as the Centre is yet to start a political dialogue with the Kuki and Meitei groups.
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