With breakdown in authority in border areas of Myanmar, neighbouring Manipur suffers

The Tatmadaw is unable to stand up to the might of the rebel armies representing different ethnic groups in the border regions of Myanmar. Despite its great advantage in armaments and manpower, over the past five months the army has been routed in northern Shan state, is conceding swaths of territory in Rakhine state in the west, and is under growing attack elsewhere.

 

Editorial, EOI, 7 April 2024 : The Myanmarese army running a brutal martial law in Myanmar is slowly but definitely losing the ground against the resistance movement, U.N. officials have revealed. 

The Tatmadaw is unable to stand up to the might of the rebel armies representing different ethnic groups in the border regions of Myanmar. Despite its great advantage in armaments and manpower, over the past five months the army has been routed in northern Shan state, is conceding swaths of territory in Rakhine state in the west, and is under growing attack elsewhere. 

The government troops have suffered the setbacks despite all the help they have received from China in terms of arms and weapons. This is no surprise indeed. The Myanmarese army has never been a professional army. Poorly paid and highly corrupt, a section of officers of the Myanmarese army has been on the payrolls of the rebels. This had been the experience of the Indian army back in the 1990s when Indian troops had to carry out operations against rebel groups in the north-east ensconced in the hilly and forested terrains on the Indo-Myanmar border. Indian troops used to get little cooperation from the Myanmanres troops in carrying out camps of rebels from the NE on the border area. Now the boot is on the other foot. 

The ruling military junta is suffering because of the incompetence of the Myanmarese troops. The nationwide armed conflict in Myanmar began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San SuuKyi in February2021 and suppressed widespread nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule. Thousands of young people fled to jungles and mountains in remote border areas as a result of the military's suppression and made common cause with ethnic guerrilla forces battle-hardened by decades of combat in pursuit of autonomy. 

The drone attack carried out by the armed wing of the main pro-democracy resistance group of Myanmar last Thursday on the airport and a military headquarters in the capital of Myanmar, Naypyidaw, one of the country's most heavily guarded locations, is the latest indication that the military junta is losing the initiative. The fighting between the Arakan Army and the military in the Rakhine State, Myanmar's poorest, is said to have reached an unprecedented level of violence. 

The Arakan Army has reportedly gained territorial control over most of central Rakhine and seeks to expand to northern Rakhine where many minority Rohingya Muslims still live, The Buddhist Rakhine people are the majority ethnic group in Rakhine, which is also known by its older name ofArakan, and have long sought autonomy. They have set up their own well-trained and well-armed force called the Arakan Army. In this breakdown of the authority of the Myanmarese government, security has been weakened in key border areas. The breakdown in the rule of law has enabled illicit economies to thrive, with criminal networks preying on vulnerable people with no livelihoods. 

According to reports, Myanmar has become a global epicentre of methamphetamine and opium production, along with a rapid expansion of global cyber-scam operations, particularly in border areas. What began as a regional crime threat in Southeast Asia is now a rampant human trafficking and illicit trade crisis with global implications, say the U.N. officials. 

The neighbouring Indian state of Manipur has suffered the consequence of this breakdown of law and order in the border areas of Myanmar, with the illicit cultivation of poppy increasing rapidly in the district of Churachandpur since the past two years by drug lords in Myanmar. This was one of the reasons behind the recent political turmoil in Manipur.