Arms smugglers find safe haven in northeast India

Arms smugglers find safe haven in northeast India

By Zarir Hussain

GUWAHATI, India (AFP): India's far eastern borders with
Myanmar and Bangladesh have spawned flourishing markets for South
Asian gun runners supplying separatist guerrilla groups.

The porous international borders of Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland,
and Manipur states are all frequented by illegal weapons
syndicates, smuggling small and medium arms and ammunition to the
30-odd rebel outfits operating in the region.

"The international borders along the northeastern states have
become a favorite hunting ground for smugglers to sell weapons to
insurgent groups," Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga (Eds: one
name) told AFP from the state capital Aizawl.

"In fact, arms bazaars along the borders have been in
existence for several decades, but the volume has grown
enormously in recent years."

The chief minister was himself a top guerrilla leader of the
Mizo National Front (MNF) before the outfit laid down its arms in
1986 and entered the political mainstream.

Most of the weapons, which include AK-47 assault rifles,
mortars, 40mm rocket launchers and revolvers, originate from
Thailand and Cambodia and are distributed from the mountainous
Arakan region of Myanmar.

"The arms consignments are often routed by sea through the Bay
of Bengal to its destination in the Arakan forest which is across
from Mizoram," Zoramthanga said.

"The weapons are generally brought from some South Asian and
fareastern countries into the Arakans."

The Arakan Army, the armed wing of Myanmar's National United
Party of Arakan (NUPA) which has been fighting a lengthy
insurgency against the military regime in Yangon, reigns supreme
in the hilly region.

"Many of the northeastern militant groups have opened up front
companies in Thailand and other Southeast Asian capitals to serve
as a smokescreen for their agents to seek arms deals," said a top
army commander, engaged in counter-insurgency operations in
Assam.

The leader of the outlawed National Socialist Council of
Nagaland (NSCN), Thuingaleng Muivah, was arrested in Bangkok in
January after he tried to enter Thailand with forged travel
documents.

He arrived in Bangkok from Pakistan where he had reportedly
struck a major arms deal.

India accuses Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI)
operatives of penetrating the northeastern borders to foment
regional insurgency and supply the rebel groups with
sophisticated weapons.

"The government has definite reports of ISI agents supplying
weapons to the region's militant outfits," Assam Chief Minister
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said.

"Security measures on the borders have been strengthened and
several arrests made in recent months".

Most of the insurgent groups in the region possess a wide
array of weapons, including hand-held rocket launchers capable of
bringing down aircraft.

More than 50,000 people have been killed in violence linked to
the various separatist insurgences raging in India's seven
northeastern states since independence in 1947.