Defence Notes
New Delhi,
27 August 2007
Operation Leech
DEFENCE MINISTRY EMBARRASSED
By Syed Ali Mujtaba
The trial of the infamous 1998
‘Operation Leech’ in the Kolkata court is turning out to be a public relations
disaster for New Delhi vis-à-vis its ties with Yangon. That too at a crucial time when several big
business deals with Myanmar's
military junta hang in the balance. ‘Operation Leech’ refers to the Indian
intelligence’s sting operation on 8 February 1998 which resulted in the capture
of 34 Myanmar nationals in
Andaman’s Landfall
Island.
According to the Defence
Ministry, during a joint military exercise codenamed “Operation Leech”, the Indian
security forces comprising the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guards, nabbed an
“international gang of gun smugglers," allegedly supplying weapons to the Indian
insurgent groups in the North-east who were waging a war against the country. The
Ministry also claimed that a huge cache of arms and ammunition were seized from
the gunrunners and six of them were killed during a fierce encounter.
However, as the trial progresses it
is now becoming clear that the "international gang of gun smugglers"
were none other than the Karen National Union (KNU) and the National Unity
Party of Arakan (NUPA) rebels who were fighting Myanmar’s
military junta and were helped by India with arms and provided a safe
sanctuary.
Moreover, according to the KNU
and NUPA defendants, the Indian military and intelligence officials had been
clandestinely supporting them for years offering them storage facilities for
the arms procured from a third country to fight the military rule in Myanmar,
even before ‘Operation Leech.’
In their plaint, the rebels have
also claimed that they had traveled overnight from southern Thailand, where they had procured arms from
unknown dealers, to India's Landfall Island for a scheduled rendezvous with the
Indian military and intelligence officials. “The Indian army for some unknown
reasons abruptly changed its plan and apprehended us on our arrival at Landfall Island,” the defendants allege.
While 28 members of KNU and NUPA were
disarmed, shackled and held in different areas of the island, six NUPA leaders
were whisked away to be killed in cold blood, they add. Not only that. The
rebels were detained for nine years in legal limbo with no formal charges
framed against them. They were even denied councilor access under detention.
However, due to pressure from a human
rights group their trial was shifted from a Port Blair court in the Andaman-Nicobar
archipelago to the City Sessions Court in Kolkata in December 2004. It was only
on the orders of the Supreme Court in October 2006 that charges were framed
against them under the Arms Act, the Explosive Substances Act and the
Foreigners Act.
True, many of the details as to
what transpired on Landfall
Islands on 8 February
1998, are yet to become clear but the version of the events as narrated by the
rebels seem to be gaining credibility. More so because the CBI was forced to
drop one of the initial charges due to lack of evidence. The CBI had accused
the rebels of attempting to wage war against India, which could not be
substantiated.
A booklet titled “Why Are Burma’s
Freedom Fighters Imprisoned in India”
released by the Solidarity Committee of the Burmese Struggle for Democracy
details the whole situation of the arrest of the rebels and questions the
authenticity of the Indian defence establishment’s claim.
The booklet reveals that the
rebels, who are members of the Arakan Army, the armed wing of NUPA and KNU, had
a close relationship with the Indian defence establishment through an Indian
military intelligence officer Colonel V. S “Gary” Grewal, who liaised with
them. Grewal, who speaks Burmese fluently, had been in contact with the Arakan
Army since 1997. Further, he was the conduit between the rebels and the Indian
security forces which had provided the Arakan Army with logistic support.
According to records, the rebels
arrived at Landfall Island in Nicobar on 8 February 1998, on an assurance
by the Indian military intelligence allowing them to set up a base on the Island. The booklet also states that the Indian military
went back on its so-called word as it had never planned to keep its promise and
arrested their long-time friends.
Calling the betrayal “Operation
Leech”, they killed six of the Arakan Army leaders in cold blood, it adds. It
also alleged that Grewal, who had planned and carried out “Operation Leech”,
betrayed the rebels, after taking thousands of dollars, at the behest of Myanmar’s
military junta.
According to the rebels lawyer Siddharth
Agarwal, his clients' defense is simple: "They were called to Landfall Island
by the Indian authorities with the promise that they would be armed by the
Indian Army in their quest for freedom against the military junta in Myanmar.
The State prosecutors have reportedly failed to produce significant pieces of
evidence requested by the defense, including the ammunition seized that
evening,” asserts Agarwal.
He also complains that the Court
allowed three military officials allegedly involved in the sting operation to
testify via video link without allowing any cross-examinations by the defense.According to the witnesses’ testimony
in the Court, they had never seen the six NUPA leaders and had heard the gunshots
sound from a distance. However, the prosecution has denied the claims,
insisting that the Indian military's only contact with either of the rebel
groups was for the purpose of conducting the sting operation.
Alleges a PUCL lawyer monitoring
the case very closely, “If the trial goes on in the right direction, the Indian
military's contacts with the Burmese rebels will be revealed ... That's why
they killed the six leaders. It was because they knew too much."
The revelations emerging from the
‘Operation Leech’ trial in Kolkata, clearly suggests, New
Delhi's alleged link with the rebel groups in Myanmar. The Indian intelligence
operatives in the late 1980s and early 1990s spent years cultivating ties with the
rebel groups fighting Myanmar's
military rule. They made several offers of logistical support to the Arakan and
Chin insurgent groups operating in Myanmar's remote western border
regions.
Significantly, ‘Operation Leech’
would have remained pretty much out of public view had it not been for the war
of words between George Fernandes and former Naval Chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat
in 1998. It was during this exchange of charges and counter-charges that a note
dated 27 July 1998 came to light.
In the final analysis, it remains
to be seen what impact the Court proceeding are likely to have on the India-Myanmar
relationship once the charges levied against the rebels are formally
demolished. ---- INFA
(Copyright India News
and Feature Alliance)
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