India has asked Myanmar to act against four top leaders of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K), including its chief S.S. Khaplang, accused of the ambush on an army convoy in Manipur in June last year in which 18 soldiers were killed.
The message was conveyed to a Myanmar delegation, led by Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Major General Aung Soe. The team is on a two-day visit here. The stand is being seen as a climb-down as India had earlier requested Myanmar to hand over the top leadership of the outfit.
After the Myanmar-based NSCN-K abrogated the ceasefire agreement with the government in March 2015, it has launched a series of attacks on security forces in Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. After the Manipur ambush, the army’s special forces launched an attack on insurgent camps 20 km inside Myanmar last year and were believed to have killed at least 20 militants. Besides Mr. Khaplang, the other NSCN-K leaders against whom India has sought action are Niki Sumi, Kirichu and Asang. They are believed to have planned and supervised the ambush.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) registered a case and named the NSCN-K in the FIR. The NIA said 23 NSCN-K members participated in the attack, including the two who were killed. Of the remaining 21, it has identified 14.
Since India and Myanmar do not have an extradition treaty, India’s request to hand over the four leaders was revised this time. “We gave a list of insurgent camps as well as the names of the terrorists operating from Myanmar and have asked them [Myanmar] to take action against them. There is no extradition treaty with Myanmar, so other options will have to be explored,” a senior official said.
The NSCN-K has a ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar government. Mr. Khaplang, a Naga from Myanmar, was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Yangon till a few months ago. He is learnt to have shifted to his base in Taga, considered a haven for anti-India insurgent groups, in north-western Myanmar.
“At the meeting, security issues, including cooperation to check the activities of insurgent groups along the international border, drug trafficking, smuggling of arms and wildlife articles and exchange of intelligence, were discussed,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.
