India, Myanmar conduct coordinated operation against insurgents posing threat to Kaladan project
New Delhi, Mar 15: The armies of India and Myanmar conducted a "coordinated operation" from February 17 to March 2 against insurgents in Myanmarese territory to avert a possible threat to the Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project, official sources said.
However, the Indian Army did not cross the border during the operation, they said.
The focus of the operation was to crack down on the members of the Arakan Army, an insurgent group in Myanmar, the sources said. The members of the Arakan Army had also moved close to the international border along Mizoram, they said.
The sources added that during the operation, the Indian Army beefed up the security along the border from Nagaland and Manipur to ensure that the insurgents do not cross over to the Indian side.
The Indian Army also helped the Myanmarese Army by providing them intelligence, they said. There were also inputs that some members of the Arakan Army were also planning to sneak into India.
The sources said setting up of camps by the insurgent groups was being viewed as a grave concern by armies of the two countries.
The operation was also undertaken keeping in view the safety of Indian workers engaged in the project.
After a series of meetings between personnel from both the countries, it was decided to carry out the coordinated operation. Additional troops were moved to the international border areas, besides deploying the Assam Rifles personnel.
The Assam Rifles has the responsibility to guard the international border with Myanmar.
The Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project is being viewed as India's gateway to the Southeast Asia.
India entered into a framework agreement with Myanmar in April 2008 to facilitate implementation of the project. On completion, the project will help connect Mizoram with the Sittwe Port in Rakhine State of Myanmar.
On the Indian side, work is on to extend the Aizawl-Saiha National Highway by 90 km to the international border at Zorinpui.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
