The successful precision military strike against Naga rebels of the NSCN (Khaplang) faction, who along with suspected Manipuri allies had killed Indian soldiers in an ambush only days earlier in Chandel district of Manipur, by the Indian Army and the Assam Rifles inside Myanmar territory — a cross-border operation to pre-empt an imminent second strike by the rebels from their safe haven in Myanmar, according to Indian intelligence reports — marks a first in the annals of anti-terrorist actions by this country.
The trans-border operation will doubtless be watchfully analysed in neighbouring countries for its future implications for them, as some of our neighbours do harbour terrorists who aim at India.
But it is far from clear if such an operation can be easily replicated in other locations, given the politico-military context, particularly in the case of Pakistan or China, on account of the wider conflagration that could provoke international interest as these neighbours are nuclear powers.
The Indian foreign secretary, S. Jaishankar, had flown to Myanmar a week before the operation. Whether he took his hosts into confidence about the impending cross-border strike against the Naga terrorists has not been disclosed. But regular communication with the Burmese authorities has been acknowledged by India, although this was not a joint operation by the security forces of the two countries, as has been the case in the past.
It is noteworthy that Myanmar has not protested against the violation of its sovereignty by Indian forces, indicating this particular neighbour’s benign approach in the matter. This is not likely to obtain in the case of Pakistan or China, with Pakistan in particular long having acquired the reputation of being a state that sponsors terrorism.
While the cross-border action involving Myanmar territory was specific to the context of terrorism, this is not the first time Indian forces have unilaterally stepped into a neighbouring country’s territory to pursue broader political aims. In June 1987, when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister, IAF planes dropped food packets in the Jaffna area and indeed landed at the Palaly air base in Sri Lanka, to beat a Sri Lankan military blockade of the Tamil-inhabited north of the country in its fight against the LTTE.
This particular military action initiated by New Delhi had an overt humanitarian angle. But Colombo very much understood the score and President Jayawardene signed the India-Sri Lanka accord the following month, which in the end landed India in a military quagmire in Sri Lanka. That too is a part of India’s institutional memory and could discourage chest-thumping military excursions involving overt border transgressions.
