Mizoram CM, civil groups broker peace in Myanmar as India recalibrates policy

Influential politicians of the north-eastern state have been entrusted with the responsibility to engage with non-state actors in Myanmar that now controls entire areas bordering India, sources privy to the developments told The Federal.

Incumbent Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma and his predecessor Zoramthanga are among the top Mizo politicians who are liaising with Myanmar’s ethnic rebels to “safeguard India’s interests” in Myanmar, sources added.

Mizoram-based two civil society organisations namely the Young Mizo Association (YMA) and the Zo Reunification Organisation (ZORO) are also part of this exercise.

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Advocating peace

The Mizoram CM went to the extent of constituting an “advocacy group for peace in Chinland”.

The advocacy group last week helped broker peace between the two rival militant groups—the Chin National Front and the Interim Chin National Consultative Council. The latest development is the follow up to the similar negotiation the chief minister had facilitated between militant outfits in February this year.

The Mizoram governments or those involved in the mediation are tight-lipped considering the geo-political sensitivity of the issue. At least three people involved with the process confirmed the development, but refused to be quoted.

Shuttle diplomacy

In the immediate aftermath of the reconciliation, the two Chin rebel groups have formed a joint committee to draft the constitution of a “Chin nation,” taking another step for “self-governance.”

New Delhi outsourced the “shuttle diplomacy” to leaders in Mizoram to keep its engagement with the rebels out of public domain, sources claimed.

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Moreover, the Indian government does not enjoy good rapport with the rebels, particularly the Arakan Army (AA) that controls the strategic Rakhine state in Western Myanmar.

Rakhine though does not share a border with India it has become strategically important as the Centre now plans to expedite the stuttering Kaladan Multi Modal Transit (KMMT) project to provide sea-connectivity to land-locked north-eastern region by-passing Bangladesh.

The Sittwe port that will serve as a maritime gateway for the project is located at Rakhine, a state at present mostly under the control of the AA.

Wooing Arakan rebels

New Delhi’s ally Junta still controls the state capital Sittwe, but its adjacent areas are in AA control. The internal power dynamics in Myanmar has made it imperative for India to seek support of the Arakan rebels to operationalise the KMMT, conceptualised in 2008.

The construction work for the project started in 2010 with an aim to complete it by 2014. But it lost prominence after India’s relation with Dhaka significantly improved after Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League came to power in 2009. Chittagong port was earmarked as a better option to give a sea route to the Northeast instead of insurgency-infested Myanmar.

Also read: As junta weakens, Chinese intervention fails to stop rebel offensive in Myanmar

The fall of the Awami League regime last year changed the equation, forcing New Delhi to once again turn its focus on the KMMT.

To revive the KMMT, India needed to deal with non-state actors that dominate most of the project areas while at the same time keeping the military Junta in good humour.

Critical challenge in reviving the project has been the multi-dimensional power struggle in the project areas.

The AA took control of Paletwa, a bordering town in Chin state last year. This has strained the relations between the Arakans and the Chin rebels, who are also fighting the Junta. There are again multiple factions among the Chin militants.

In this complex situation, India needed to ensure that warring rebel groups are on the same page. Otherwise, infighting among them would affect the project.

Bypassing 'betrayal'

The Centre initially tried to directly reach out to the AA and held meetings with its top leaders in Bangkok, New Delhi and Agartala last year. But these attempts failed to break ice. The AA was not very receptive to India’s initial overtures as it was still peeved over the “Operation Leech”, a covert Indian military operation conducted in 1998 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Several AA army leaders and members were killed in the operation that led to seizure of a huge cache of arms and ammunition.

The AA views the operation as a “betrayal” and a “double-dealing” by the Indian security apparatus.

Mizo leaders, particularly Zoramthanga, are reportedly acting as go-between the Centre and the AA. Zoramthanga himself is a rebel-turned politician.

The Mizoram chief minister and a few senior state government officials too met AA representatives in Aizawl at the Centre’s urging.

Fruitful parleys

The gambit of using Mizo leaders is bearing positive results. After a few rounds of “fruitful parleys” with Mizo leaders, the AA recently established a “representative office” in Mizoram for “greater engagements,” the sources added.

The Chin National Front too have clandestine offices in Mizoram, including in state capital Aizawl.

The establishment of the offices underscore the strategic role the state is playing in facilitating India’s Myanmar policy shift.

This is a rare occasion since the Liberation War of Bangladesh, seven decades ago, that an Indian state is playing a direct role in the country’s foreign policy.

West Bengal and Tripura had played pivotal roles in facilitating India’s strategy that led to the formation of Bangladesh.

Zoramthanga along with Mizo civil society organisations is further trying to negotiate peace between Chin militant outfits and the AA over the control of Paletwa.

They made significant progress in this regard by bringing to the negotiating table the CNF, the political wing of the Chin National Army and the AA a few months ago.

The CNF was represented in the meeting held in Aizawl by its vice-chairman Thang Yen and its central executive member Ngun Hlei Thang.

The AA was represented by its commander-in-chief Twan Mrat Naing, vice commander-in-chief Nyo Twan Awng and its spokesperson and information officer Khaing Thu Kha.

The meeting, however, remained inconclusive.