Uneasy calm in Manipur but storm on border with Myanmar

Guwahati, Feb 4
Amid a lull in incidents of violence in Manipur, security forces have been put on high alert due to gun battles and explosions taking place close to the State’s border with Myanmar over the past week.
Fierce gunfights broke out in the Sagaing region of Myanmar – a country in the middle of a civil war – on January 27. The area is close to Manipur’s Kamjong district.
Kamjong Superintendent of Police Ningshem Vashum said firing has continued close to the border. “The firefights are still taking place but across the border, within the jurisdiction of Myanmar. We are on high alert, and along with the Assam Rifles, we have opened three new checkposts along the border–from Namlee to Phaikok. Right now, there is no border crossing happening on this stretch, and there is no ripple on our side,” he said.
Because the violence is taking place across the border, officials from the security forces deployed in Manipur said they have no details of which groups are involved or how many lives have been lost. However, in the last week, three different banned insurgent groups from Manipur’s Meitei-majority valley, which have bases in Myanmar, have claimed that their cadres were killed in gunfights.
On January 31, a public funeral was held in Imphal East’s Andro area to honour a member of the proscribed PLA, who had reportedly been killed in Myanmar, close to the border, on January 27.
In a statement, the Revolutionary People’s Front, the armed wing of which is the PLA, claimed that PLA “2nd Lieutenant” Henthoiba had died in an encounter with “proxy enemies”. Following this, on Sunday, two other groups – the Koiren led UNLF and the KYKL – claimed that they lost one member each on January 30 in a gunfight against the Kuki National Army-Burma and the Indian military. Similar allegations had also been made last year by the Naga insurgent group NSCN (IM), alleging “proxy warfare” in Myanmar territory.
Indian security forces have denied the allegations. Insurgent groups, which have seen a rise in activities and recruitment after the start of the ongoing conflict in the state, have bases in Myanmar, where they are known to fight alongside the military junta against the rebel People’s Defence Force and Ethnic Armed Organisations, including the KNA(B).
There have also been reports of deaths of Kuki-Zo people in the ongoing fights in Myanmar, close to Kamjong. However, unlike the insurgent groups, no Kuki-Zo group has claimed the deaths of its members.
The Indian Express