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Were Foreign Nationals and Myanmar Rebel Groups Plotting an Attack Against India? 

The arrest of seven foreign citizens under UAPA drew attention to Myanmar-based EAOs and their links to India – but media reports thus far have obscured more thanthey have illuminated. 

A morning drill at the military headquarters of Chin National Front (Camp Victoria) in Myanmar’s Chin State.

The arrest of six Ukrainian nationals and a U.S. citizen in India for entering the northeastern state of Mizoram without permission and engaging with rebel groups in Myanmar has put the spotlight on the covert entry and activities of foreign nationals to restricted zones in the country and their journeys to neighboring Myanmar.  

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), the anti-terror agency handling the case, has alleged that the group was making efforts to train some ethnic armed organizations (EAO) linked to insurgent outfits in India’s Northeast, as well as supplying the EAOs with weapons from Europe, including drones. All the accused have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The NIA has not disclosed the timeline of their activities or the specific rebel groups they interacted with in Myanmar. Nor is there any information on the route they traversed to cross over to Myanmar. It can be safely assumed that the group might have gone to Chin State – a hotspot of resistance where around 20 outfits are active – since it is contiguous to the Indian state of Mizoram.  

The Diplomat spokes to members of two resistance outfits in Myanmar along the international border, all of whom denied any knowledge about the episode. A senior New Delhi-based government official claimed that the group had been apprehended nearly two months ago during their return journey from Myanmar and after departing from Mizoram. They were arrested at airports in Kolkata, Lucknow, and Delhi.  

Before delving on the covert entry of the foreign nationals in Myanmar, it is imperative to assess the NIA’s allegation that some Myanmar EAOs are linked to insurgent outfits in India’s Northeast.  

A map of Northeast India’s states and the surrounding region. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Myanmar EAOs and Indian Rebel Outfits

Many rebel groups from India’s Northeast are engaged in Myanmar’s civil war in different capacities. The Meitei separatist outfits from Manipur’s Imphal Valley – the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), both the factions of People’s Republican Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), Kanna Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), and the hardline faction of United National Liberation Front (UNLF) – have joined hands with the Myanmar military against the resistance groups active in Sagaing Region, which are mostly from the Burmese and Kuki-Chin-Mizo ethnic communities.  

The Kuki-Chin-Mizo groups from India’s Manipur that are most active in Myanmar include the Kuki National Army (KNA) and Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA). While the KNA has pulled out all the stops to fight against the Myanmar military, in cooperation with other organizations, the latter has charted a different route by collaborating with the military, similar to the groups from Imphal Valley. There have been instances of conflicts between the ZRA and anti-military resistance groups over the past five years. Both the ZRA and KNA have ceasefire agreements with the Indian government.  

Another insurgent organization from India’s Northeast active on both sides of the border is the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM), which had inked a ceasefire agreement in 1997 with the Indian government. There are reports alleging that the NSCN(IM) has begun colluding with the Myanmar military against the resistance groups. Last year, at a zone along Manipur’s border with Myanmar, the group was engaged in a clash with the KNA for several days, resulting in high casualties on both sides. 

The separatist independent faction of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-I) from the state of Assam has camps in north Sagaing Region. However, it has no association with any resistance group combatting the Myanmar military.  

Several resistance groups from Myanmar’s Chin State and Sagaing Region have links in Manipur and Mizoram. The twin Indian states, especially Mizoram, have hosted thousands of refugees from Myanmar since the coup five years ago. While Mizoram has welcomed the refugees, owing to ethnic similarities, Manipur has been hostile and had also deported batches of them to Myanmar over the past four years. So currently whatever linkages these groups have are mostly with Mizoram.  

On a few occasions in the past, Myanmar nationals have been arrested with explosives and weapons, but there was no evidence of any association with rebel groups in India’s Northeast.    

Visits by Foreign Nationals to Myanmar

Foreign nationals have been surreptitiously visiting Myanmar’s conflict hotspots since 2021, when the democratically elected government was toppled by the military. The covert entries were made either from Thailand or from India’s Mizoram. Different categories of people had crossed over during the past five years including expatriates, mercenaries, intelligence operatives, journalists with specific tasks, and academics on rare occasions. 

In 2023, I spent 21 days traveling through Myanmar’s Chin State and Sagaing Region. In that time, I came across three foreign nationals from India, Thailand, and the U.S. outside the rebel camps in different locations. The citizens from India and Thailand were engaged with the resistance movement in non-military roles. The U.S. national was examining options to revive a micro-hydroelectric project in association with locals in a backward and remote village that was outside of junta’s control. It was difficult to ascertain if there were foreign nationals in the rebel camps.

The next year, in 2024, during my subsequent visit to a zone along the border, I gathered information about the presence of foreign nationals who were former employees of the armed forces of their countries. They were training newly recruited functionaries in the organization. However, I was requested by the leaders of the group not to write about them. 

The fact that foreign nationals were engaged in training Myanmar’s resistance groups had surfaced in many media reports. A news report published on December 21, 2022 quoted a commander of the Chin National Defense Force (CNDF) as saying that the “VAKOK Battalion” of the outfit was receiving “training from a U.S. armed forces veteran in Sagaing Region’s Kale Township.” The commander, who identified himself as Uk Pi, explained that the trainer was born in Myanmar and retired from the U.S. Army. He had volunteered to train other resistance groups as well. 

The People’s Defense Force Zoland (PDF Zoland) posted a photo on social media on May 11, 2024 showing two foreign volunteers from the United States alongside a British volunteer who had joined the resistance movement. 

So, foreign nationals providing training to the resistance groups in Myanmar is not a new phenomenon. In all likelihood, those who were spotted in Chin State and Sagaing Region had crossed over from India, back when it was not mandatory for foreign nationals to obtain a Restricted Area Permit (RAP) to visit Mizoram. The RAP was relaxed in 2011 to boost tourism in Mizoram and two more northeastern states but reimposed early last year owing to “growing security concerns” of the Indian government.  

With this background in mind, let’s return to the recent case. 

Was There a Terror Plot........

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