Operation Sunrise

India has carried out Operation Sunrise to wipe out the insurgent camps planning to hit the Indian workers at the Kaladan Transit project. The Operation was reportedly carried between mid-February to early March.

Operation Sunrise

• Operation Sunrise was a joint operation carried out by both Indian and Myanmar armies. During the operation, at least 10 camps of an insurgent group in neighbouring Myanmar were attacked.
• The Indian Army did not cross into the Myanmar side but there was a massive mobilisation along the border, on the Mizoram side.
• Indian side supported Operation Sunrise by providing surveillance equipment and deploying additional troops on the Indian side.
• The target of the Operation Sunrise was the Arakan Army, an insurgent group trained by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) which is reportedly trained by China.

India had carried out a similar operation in 2017 which had inflicted heavy casualties on the insurgent National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) group during the retaliatory fire along the India-Myanmar border.

Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project

Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project aims to connect seaport of Kolkata (India) with Sittwe seaport in Myanmar by sea. The project links Sittwe seaport to Lashio in Myanmar via Kaladan river through boat route and then from Lashio to Mizoram in India by road transport.
The project would reduce the distance from Kolkata to Mizoram by approximately 1000 km and thereby cut travelling time to 3-4 days for transport of goods together with providing an alternative to current route from North East to Kolkata port via chicken neck which faces heavy traffic and transportation of cargo via this route takes many days to reach port.

Month: Current Affairs - March, 2019