Guwahati: The Additional Director General of Assam Police, L R Bishnoi said, ” Intelligence agencies in China have been directly or indirectly helping the Northeast insurgent based in Myanmar, who have ganged up under an umbrella organization to target Indian security forces in the Northeast.”
Making a presentation on the insurgency scenario of the state as well as Northeast before a group of legislators of Assam in the state Assembly complex here on Tuesday.
Bishnoi said fugitive Paresh Barua, the commander-in-chief of the ULFA (Independent), had been in touch with Chinese liaison office at Ruili, a Chinese border town in Yunan Province bordering Myanmar.
The Police official said Paresh Barua was now based in Ruili and trying to procure weapons for Northeast insurgent groups based in Myanmar.
Bishnoi said the Naga rebel group NSCN-K was providing all the help to other Northeast insurgent groups to set up bases in the remote, hardly accessible hilly terrain in Myanmar.
He said the insurgents there get all possible helps from Naga villagers living in that part of Myanmar territory and procure Chinese-made weapons. He said the camps of N-E insurgents in Myanmar are located in Myanmar Naga Hills, Lower Sagaing Region, Chin State and Rakhine State.
Estimated 2346 N-E insurgents from different groups were taking shelter in Myanmar areas.
Out of these NSCN-K has the highest number of 1000 cadres in Myanmar, NSCN-IM has 80-100 cadres, ULFA (Independent) led by Paresh Barua has 214 cadres, NDFB (Songbijit faction) has 160 men, United National Liberation Front (UNLF) has 229 cadres, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has 256, Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) has 102 cadres, PREPAK has 80-100 cadres, PREPAK –PRO has 80-100 cadres, Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP-N) has 40-50 cadres, Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) has 10-15 cadres, National Liberation Front of Tripura has 15-20 cadres.
These insurgent groups based in Myanmar formed a joint operation group called United Liberation Front of Western South East Asian (UNLFW) on April 17, 2015 to carry out joint operations targeting Indian Security Forces.
The senior police officials who have vast experience of dealing with counter-insurgency operation in Assam , claimed that the ULFA(I) self-styled c-in-c Paresh Barua stayed somewhere near Myanmar –China border and was instrumental in procuring and transporting weapons made in China.
He said the vastly unguarded and unfenced border with Myanmar in Northeast India had been to the advantage of the insurgents of the region.
Out of the total 1643 Km border with Myanmar in Northeast, only 52 Km has been fenced so far.
“It is the NSCN-K that has facilitated presence of large number of N-E insurgents in Myanmar. If the NSCN-K which is already suffering internal differences because of the failing health of its ageing chairman S S Khaplang, comes over ground the N-E insurgents base in Myanmar will suffer a huge set-back,’” the official said.
