GUWAHATI, Aug 2 - China will always try to keep the North East region of India disturbed by providing direct or indirect help to militant outfits and after the trouble in Galwan Valley, the possibility of agencies of the neighbouring country instigating militants to indulge in acts of violence cannot be ruled out. This was the observation of security analyst and former Director General of Assam and Tripura Police, GM Srivastava.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, Srivastava said that for years, the Chinese agencies have been trying to keep the North East disturbed by extending help to the militant groups and there is every possibility of the neighbouring country intensifying such efforts. He pointed out that the Naga insurgency was helped by the Chinese, while, when the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) was formed, the leaders first went to China via Nagaland.
Even in the initial years of the ULFA, commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah stayed in China for at least two years when several batches of members of the outfit visited China for training. �Paresh Baruah is a trusted man of the Chinese agencies. He can speak Chinese fluently. Even now, Baruah is in China. It would not have been possible for Baruah to stay in China for such a longperiod without the knowledge of the Chinese authorities. China is such a country where even a Chinese national cannot stay if the government does not want him to stay in that country. Under such circumstances, it is sure that Baruah is living there with the help of Government agencies,� Srivastava added.
The former DGP said that the security agencies knew about the officer of Chinese secret service, who used to deal with Paresh Baruah in the initial years and the person even visited the camps of the ultras in Myanmar. That person is no more, but the Chinese agencies are still cooperating with the militants to achieve their goal of keeping the region disturbed.
Srivastava said that as long as insurgency in the North East continues, the Government of India would have to spend huge amounts of money in deployment of security forces to deal with the situation. Moreover, a large number of Army and paramilitary forces will have to be engaged in counter insurgency operations, which helps China.
Replying to a question on whether helping the militants would serve any purpose for China in the present situation when popular support to militancy is dwindling and the outfits also do not have number of cadres as they used to have, Srivastava pointed out that only a handful of militants can serve the purpose of the Chinese. �See the recent ambush in Manipur. You do not need many people to carry out such attacks but that kind of incidents keep the forces busy. If the Chinese need to blow a bridge or an important road, they do not have to send their own people and they can just engage the local militants to do the job for them,� he pointed out.
The former DGP further suggested that the Government should keep watch on the pro Chinese people and efforts must be on to stop the ultra outfits from recruiting youths.
