Myanmar Operation: Decision to strike was taken at CCS after June 4 Army ambush

The six-member delegation of Naga Hoho was led by its president
 Chuba Ozukum, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. 

Appu Esthose Suresh, ENS, New Delhi , June 13, 2015: The decision to approve cross-border strikes in Myanmar to target militants from the NSCN-K was taken during a meeting on June 5 of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after 18 soldiers were gunned down in Manipur, highly placed sources said.

The CCS meeting, which was also attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, directed National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Army chief Gen Dalbir Suhag to plan the strikes, sources added.

Before the CCS met, Doval and Gen Suhag had visited Manipur, where military intelligence provided information about the location of the militants who were suspected to have attacked the convoy from the 6 Dogra Regiment in Chandel.

Early on June 5, Parrikar conveyed to Modi that the Army wanted permission to prepare for a “revenge attack” on the militants who had moved about 4 km into Myanmar by then, sources added.

The CCS put Doval in charge of coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Army to prepare the details of the strike, including its timing, sources said.

It was also decided that the Army would hand over a note to their Myanmar counterparts just before the strike, and that the Indian envoy in Nay Pyi Taw, Gautam Mukhopadhaya, would inform their foreign office about the strike in the early working hours, when the operation was expected to be over, sources said.

According to sources, the Army has been given permission to pursue militants across the border in case of a counter strike. Doval will now work out the modalities of putting in place a permanent framework for Indian forces to pursue militants across the border in continuation of the 2010 agreement between India and Myanmar, they added.

A Naga delegation on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and emphasised their commitment to peace in the entire Northeastern region.