China is reviving a flagging militancy in north-eastern India with arms and military training. In return, it wants militants to spy on nuclear missiles and military formations deployed in the North-east. And, by charging market prices for the weapons, it is looking to make a fast buck too. "The logic seems to be: keep the North-east on the boil and simultaneously profit from arms sales," says a senior military intelligence official. This marks a departure from the 1970s when China supplied weapons and training free.
With the arrest of three key insurgent operatives, intelligence agencies are piecing together China's subversive agenda for the North-east. A recent charge-sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Anthony Shimray, chief arms procurer of the Isak-Muivah faction of Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), specifically mentions Norinco, one of China's largest state-owned weapons manufacturers. Bangkok-based nscn-im rebels had allegedly paid $100,000 to Norinco to buy 10,000 assault rifles, pistols, rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition. A United National Liberation Front of Manipur (UNLF) delegation that went to Ruili in China's Yunnan province in 2009 was given rate cards for weaponry but could not afford the high prices: $1 million for a rocket-propelled grenade 'package' comprising 20 launchers and 2,000 rockets. For training, it was $512,000.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) officials call Norinco or the China North Industries Corporation a front for China's military intelligence, supplying weapons to buyers ranging from African dictators to Asian rebel groups. Norinco's name first surfaced during the 2004 haul at Chittagong where Bangladeshi security agencies intercepted a consignment of 4,930 firearms, including rockets, grenades and assault rifles, meant for the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and nscn-im. India has not taken up with China the issue of a legitimate entity supplying arms to non-state actors. A Chinese-made AK-56 is easily available in Dimapur for Rs 2 lakh, a sophisticated Austrian Glock pistol for Rs 3 lakh. "Chinese guns are sold illegally like sweets. With such easy availability of arms, anyone can start an 'insurgency'," says Binalakshmi Nepram of the Control Arms Foundation of India. The fresh revelations come at a time when India has resumed military exchanges with China following the recent visit of Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh. A recurring theme of two joint Sino-Indian military exercises have been 'anti-terrorist drills'.
Militancy is on the wane in the North-east. The total fatalities in the region were down to 322 deaths in 2010 from 853 in 2009. But with China reviving its support to north-eastern guerrillas and using them as spies, a new chapter has been added. "In view of the current Sino-Indian relations, China considers the North-east more important than other parts of India," a senior unlf member noted during a debrief of his visit to China.
Senior police officials say that China has displaced the traditional markets of South-east Asia as the number one hub for weapons. "Assam militants have been going to China for their arms," confirms Khagen Sharma, Additional Director General of Assam Police (special branch). Home Secretary G.K. Pillai hints that the Chinese state may be unaware of the middlemen who operate in South-east Asia. "There is a lot of smuggling by Chinese arms agents who come to India through Myanmar and Bangkok. Most insurgent groups get weapons of Chinese origin through these agents," he says.
Cadres of Kuki national front with their arms in Imphal, Manipur
Sanctuaries are being offered by the Chinese security establishment. ulfa chief Paresh Barua operates out of Yunnan reportedly with the blessings of the Chinese military. The Chinese intelligence services have links with other rebel groups as well. The first indications emerged in August 2009 when Manipur police captured Ronny, a 'sergeant' in the banned insurgent group, the People's Liberation Army (PLA). He confirmed to his police interrogators that "Sixteen pla platoons (around 300 men) returned after training in China." The breakthrough, however, came in August last year with the arrest of Rajkumar Meghen, the head of the UNLF. Meghen, the charismatic scion of the Manipur royal family, was captured in a joint Indo-Bangladeshi operation in Dhaka and transported by road to Bihar where he was formally arrested by the nia. His arrest was preceded by the capture of 18 unlf operatives in Guwahati. Recovered from the militants was a laptop with detailed accounts of their operations and links with China. The establishment of an arms line from China in the 1990s meant that the north-eastern guerillas could buy their weapons instead of snatching them from security forces. "The establishment of a full-fledged arms supply line means it is only a matter of time before these arms flow into the Indian mainland," says an nia official. The unlf was in contact with Maoists operating in central India. A unlf note prepared for the Chinese says that the Maoist movement has spread to over 25 per cent of the Indian land mass. "If we have sufficient supplies of arms and ammunition, the Maoist struggle will achieve a qualitative development," it says.
Since the 1962 border war with India, China has held out twin threats to India's North-east. The first, a conventional military thrust down from Tibet into the 20-km-wide "Siliguri corridor" that could sever the entire region from India. The second, covert assistance to insurgent groups to tie down Indian troops in prolonged counter-insurgency operations. As part of the second strategy, China has provided sanctuaries, arms and training to Naga, Manipuri and Mizo insurgent groups. In the 1960s Naga leader Angami Phizo and others embarked on a "Long March" to China-a move that cemented their ties with the People's Republic. In 2009, a delegation of unlf leaders embarked on a second "Long March" to China where the agents demanded intelligence on Indian missile movements (see Long March to China).
The arrest of Shimray in October 2010 gave the clearest lead to China's role in the north-east. Shimray was arrested in Patna, though it is believed he was picked up in Nepal and brought by road to Bihar. (His lawyer Worso Zimik says Shimray was part of the NSCN-IM delegation that was conducting talks with the Indian government and terms his arrest illegal.)
Ulfa commander-in-chief Paresh Barua with his cadres.
Currently an undertrail in Tihar jail, Shimray was negotiating a massive arms consignment of nearly 10,000 weapons from China, enough to equip a division of troops. Not all of it was for the nscn-im whose fighting strength is estimated at 4,500 guerrillas. nia officials believe a large percentage of the arms were meant to be sold to other North-eastern groups. Shimray told intelligence operatives that the Chinese suggested that the north-eastern guerillas came together under one organisation to facilitate better interaction. The nscn-im, which is currently in a cease-fire with the government since 1997, was planning to go a step further. A letter dated August 2010 from Isak Chishi Swu, one of its top two leaders, states that the nscn-im planned to appoint a representative in Ruili. The issue of Chinese arms flowing into India has been repeatedly raised in military-to-military talks. "The Chinese are always sheepish when we confront them about arms in the North-east. They tell us that they have trouble accounting for their arms stored in warehouses in Yunnan province," says a military intelligence official. The Chinese version isn't convincing. "It is hard to believe that a communist dictatorship like China would have problems accounting for its weapons," says Major General (retired) G.D. Bakshi. Unaccounted-for weapons may be just the beginning of India's north-eastern nightmare.
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