The General was borne to his grave by a wall of pallbearers, their combat fatigues punctuated by bright floral offerings, fruit, and a giant paper star with six corners, representing the presence of God with the Naga nation. The troops he had commanded fired salutes; perhaps unaware of the solemnity of the moment, some local urchins scrambled to collect the empty cartridges as souvenirs. For more than five decades, he had fought the Indians: Even a year after his death, Shangwang Shangyung Khaplang featured on government wanted lists.
In the summer of 2015, seeking to sabotage a peace process with rival groups, Khaplang had ordered his ethnic-Metei allies to ambush an Indian Army patrol, killing 18 soldiers. Furious, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had ordered cross-border raids into Myanmar, and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed murder charges.
Age and illness denied India justice—but now it’s letting others involved in killing its troops slip away.
Last week, hundreds of women turned out to stop soldiers from arresting Moirangthem Tamba alias Uttam—a fugitive military leader sought by the NIA for his direct role in the 4 June 2015 attack by the ethnic-Meitei Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) and the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP).
Fearing loss of civilian lives in a long stand-off, the Army claims that it turned over the 12 arrested insurgents, including Moirangthem, to a local leader. There’s no word, though, on who the local leader is—and if he will hand Moirangthem over to face trial. To some in Manipur, mired in an ethnic war, Moirangthem is a hero, defending his people against attack from Kuki vigilantes.
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The strikes that failed
KYKL’s Moirangthem, though, isn’t the only killer of Indian soldiers who has shown up since the strikes. Nikki Sumi, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland – Khaplang (NSCN-K) armed wing commander, accused by the NIA of having “directed the terrorist act,” signed on to a peace agreement in 2020. Earlier this year, he received armed salutes from a cadre of the group at a public parade in Nagaland, appearing resplendent in revolutionary chic, complete with aviator sunglasses and a rakishly-angled red beret.
Starson Lamkang, named by the NIA as among the conspirators, also surrendered to the Indian Army in December 2020. The terms of the surrender deal mean he is not being prosecuted for the attack.
Like their Naga allies, intelligence officials have told ThePrint, KYKL leaders have been operating in sight of Indian intelligence services. Namoijam Okendra Singh, chair of the KYKL, crossed from the Taga camp in Myanmar earlier this summer to help organise ethnic-cleansing operations against Kuki settlements in the Imphal foothills. KYKL commanders like Thoudam Thoiba and S Mangal are also back—and being protected by powerful local politicians.
The return of the killers represents, among other things, the poor military results of a much-hyped campaign seeking military retribution.
In 2015, eight personnel of the 21 Para Regiment received gallantry medals for the attack on Onzia, the base where Moirangthem was reportedly hiding out. A second operation targeted a camp at Ponyo, just across the border in Myanmar’s Sagaieng province, used by Sumi.
Even though Additional Director-General of Military Operations Major-General Randhir Kapoor asserted “significant casualties” were inflicted, no evidence ever emerged to support the claim.
Bibhu Prasad Routray, a sociologist and historian with expertise in Indian internal armed conflicts, wrote that the strike “had inflicted no damage on the NSCN-K’s potential.” Sumi, along with the KYKL military unit, apparently retreated deep into Myanmar long before the raids landed. Further raids were carried out in 2016, targeting an NSCN-K camp near Throilu, but proved equally ineffective.
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The cook who rustled up death
Eyewitness accounts of the ambush have slowly emerged through the custodial interrogation of insurgents NIA has arrested—though some parts of it may be inadmissible for trial. Among the men the NIA arrested was Naorem Premkanta Singh, from Kaching, south of Imphal. Following an unsuccessful attempt to join the Manipur Police, Naorem told the NIA in a testimony obtained by ThePrint that KYKL had recruited him to serve as a cook.
Living at the camp, Naorem learned the basics of jungle warfare and became a fighter—his skills mainly used to extract money from goods and narcotics transiting through the border town of Thongren.
Then, on 2 June 2015, Naorem and other KYKL and KCP cadres were moved close to the India-Myanmar border, travelling in autorickshaws to an old war cemetery. There, they changed into combat fatigues and were handed weapons. Moirangthem, who was leading the assault unit, guided them through the jungle paths across the border until they reached the outskirts of Munnan village.
Last-minute photographs were taken of the group, later discovered by investigators, to document the team.
Four units with five members, Naorem alleged, were assigned special responsibility. A pressure cooker packed with ammonium nitrate and fuel oil was planted on the side of the road to act as an impromptu mine. As the first vehicle slowed in response to the explosion, Moirangthem threw a hand grenade and opened fire.
The Army began responding by firing mortars, but the insurgents retreated rapidly, leaving behind two dead – Rajalung Kamei of Tamenglong and Keishak Rajen Singh of Nomgembam Lamlai. Eighteen soldiers had also been killed.
From 4 to 7 June, the ambush team retreated into Myanmar—relentlessly shadowed, Naorem recalled, by an Indian Army helicopter. The insurgents, though, proved successful in concealing their movement. “Five cadres of KCP and KYKL waited for us and congratulated us,” Naorem told the NIA.
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The politics of killing
Even though the ambush was executed with ruthless precision, the political fallout hurt the NSCN-K. Faced with intense pressure from the Indian government, the Tatmadaw evicted Yung Aung – Khaplang’s nephew and leader of an NSCN-K faction – from his headquarters at Taga in 2019. Ethnic-Meitei groups, as well as the United Liberation Front of Asom and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, were also forced to leave. Fighters were even handed over to India.
Within months, though, as the Tatmadaw’s hold inside Myanmar disintegrated, it turned to ethnic-Meitei groups to serve as mercenaries. Last year, the Tatmadaw vacated Taga altogether to meet counter-insurgency pressures elsewhere.
Ethnic-Meitei insurgents began rebuilding their presence across the border. Ethnic-Meitei groups, journalist Rajeev Bhattacharya reported, were seen in the ethnic-Naga area of Hoyat—using them as bases to operate again inside Manipur, supporting ethnic-Metei in their savage warfare against the Kuki.
For its part, the NSCN-K faction led by Yung Aung also resumed setting up bases in the region as a provider of services to the Tatmadaw.
The fighting inside Myanmar involves rival configurations, too. Earlier this year, militia-linked democratic opposition groups and Kuki insurgents dropped drone-borne incendiaries on a KYKL camp.
Faced with escalating ethnic violence in Manipur—and a stalled peace process in Nagaland—New Delhi faces impossible choices. Letting Naga insurgents return to Nagaland strengthens groups willing to negotiate an autonomy deal that could end the decades-long conflict in the state. And the government is wary of acting hard against ethnic-Meitei groups, for fear of reigniting a full-blown insurgency with ties to anti-talks Nagas. In insurgencies across the world, deals involving the forgiveness of past crimes have been necessary.
The price, though, isn’t just forgetting the sacrifice of Indian soldiers. Ever since Independence, India has sought to hand over control of the Northeast to ethnic contractors and allowed them to raise funds through extortion and drug running. In many cases, so-called surrendered groups retain their weapons and receive stipends – even though they violate ceasefire conditions.
For durable peace, India has to establish that the state and its laws have real meaning. Letting Moirangthem walk free marks a big step in the wrong direction.’
The author is National Security Editor, ThePrint. He tweets @praveenswami. Views are personal.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)