Naga peace talks fallout? Security tightened along Myanmar border

Kamjong: Apprehending that cadres of some Manipuri and Naga militant outfits based in Myanmar may create law-and-order problems in Manipur following the recent talks with the Centre and the NSCN-IM in New Delhi, security arrangements have reportedly been intensified in the areas bordering Myanmar.

Sources informed EastMojo that a group of Assam Rifles personnel were deployed at Phungtha village, the second last village of Manipur from the international border in Kamjong district, on November 5. Kamjong town, the district headquarters, is located 120 km from state capital Imphal along the state highway.

“From November 5 onwards, there have been some movement in the village as Assam Rifles has deputed a group of 25 jawans in the area. Stocking of ration and other essential materials is also being carried out in the area for more than a week,” sources told EastMojo.

In Chamu village, considered as the last village from Manipur side along the India-Myanmar border, it has been reported that a full battalion of Assam Rifles has been deployed in the area. A ‘Major’-level officer of the Assam Rifles, who didn’t want to be named, told EastMojo that the battalion has been deployed to check infiltration of militants through the village.

To tackle any situation following the recent Centre-NSCN-IM talks in New Delhi, the battalion has been deployed in the village, the Assam Rifles officer said. However, following deployment of troops in the village, a sense of fear is prevailing among the villagers as this is for the first time that such type of deployment has happened in the village.

Meanwhile, Assam Rifles sources have categorically denied reports that around 300 armed cadres of the NSCN-IM, which were allegedly camping at a forest under Lesi township of Myanmar, have been driven out by a large number of Myanmar Army.

Massive patrolling is being done in the entire area. But no such movement of cadres of any insurgent outfit has been visible in these border areas. These are nothing but fake news, the sources added.

Amid reports that the Naga peace talks reached their logical conclusion in New Delhi on October 31– with the Centre reportedly accepting the demands of the NSCN-IM, albeit with certain pre-conditions — Union home minister Amit Shah said that the talks will “conclude” only once the views and inputs of all the NE states — especially Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, which are proposed to be a part of NSCN-IM’s proposed ‘Greater Nagaland’ — are taken into account.

After a long, 22-year wait, the Naga peace talks, it seems, has reached a conclusive stage, as the Centre has reportedly decided to accept the demands of the NSCN-IM, but with certain pre-conditions. At a crucial close-door meeting held in New Delhi on October 31, 2019, representatives from the Centre agreed to accept the crucial demands of the NSCN-IM keeping the greater interest of maintaining peace and harmony in the entire region in mind, sources in the Union home ministry told EastMojo.