One NSCN (K) militant killed, jawan injured in army operation underway at India-Myanmar border

One National Socialist Council of Nagaland - Khaplang (NSCN-K) militant was killed and an army jawan was injured in an anti-terror operation currently underway at the India-Myanmar border in Arunachal Pradesh, media reports said.

#UPDATE 1 NSCN(K) cadre killed. 1 Army personnel injured. 1 AK-56, 1 radio set, 1 hand grenade,&live bullets recovered; Operation underway

— ANI (@ANI) September 4, 2017

[caption id=“attachment_3906961” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] Twenty-one Special Forces men are involved in the operation, said India Today. The operation is going on in the Longding district of Arunachal Pradesh since 7.30 am on Monday, ANI reported_._ One AK-56, radio set, hand grenade and live bullets have been seized by the army in the thick foliage. Indian army sources added that it was not a cross-border strike by the armed forces, reported IANS. Arunachal Pradesh shares a 520-kilometre-long border with Myanmar. This is the second operation in the India-Myanmar border by the Indian Army since June 2015, when 38 Naga insurgents were killed in a surgical strike by 70 Indian commandos, according to  The Hindu. Army chief General Bipin Rawat spoke to the media on Monday afternoon after holding talks with Minister for State for Home Kiren Rijiju and said, “It’s a normal, routine operation. Such operations happen everyday. There’s nothing big about them,” reported The Indian Express. Defence spokesman Colonel Chiranjit Konwer said in Itanagar that Monday’s operation struck hard the illegal activities being carried out by the militant group, reported The Times Of India. Except the lone militant killed, the rest reportedly escaped in the thickly-forested region. The Indian army later found a shelter and destroyed it.  The NSCN (K) is led by Myanmar-based SS Khaplang and Khole Konyak. Khaplang, however, passed away at the age of 77 in June last year. Khaplang had also entered into a ceasefire with the central government in 1997 but abrogated it on 28 March, 2015. NSCN split into two factions, NSCN (Isak Muivah) and NSCN (K) after a violent clash in 1988, according to this  Indian Express report.  In August 2015, the Centre under Narendra Modi and the NSCN (IM)  signed a landmark peace accord which indefinitely extended the ceasefire between the two. The signing of the pact is the culmination of over 80 rounds of negotiations that spanned 16 years with first breakthrough in 1997 when ceasefire agreement was sealed. On Sunday, the Indian army’s eastern command tweeted that a self-styled NSCN (K) militant Honcham Wangsa was killed near Kunsa in Arunachal Pradesh.

#NEOps Dao Div neutralized Honcham Wangsa, self styled Corporal of NSCN-K near Kunsa Vill, Arunachal Pradesh @official_dgar @adgpi pic.twitter.com/i9nFSIPqht

— EasternCommand_IA (@easterncomd) September 3, 2017

In recent times, Myanmar has been making headlines for an uptick in fighting between militants and Myanmar’s military in strife-torn western Rakhine state which has forced 87,000 Rohingya minority members to flee to Bangladesh, according to a UN report . Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to arrive in Myanmar on 5 September for a bilateral meeting right after the conclusion of the BRICS Summit 2017 in Xiamen, China. It is his first bilateral state visit to Myanmar during which both sides are expected to ink a number of agreements and deliberate on key issues including exodus of Rohingya community. In addition to the above, ways to deepen security and defence cooperation, implementation of India-assisted development projects and the issue of cross border activities by certain insurgent groups along the India-Myanmar are likely to figure during Modi’s talks with leadership of the country during the three-day visit. With inputs from agencies