Indo-Myanmar Kaladan project faces challenges

By: Nava Thakuria

Ambitious Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Corridor project, which is designed to connect Sittwe port of Rakhine (Arakan) State in western Myanmar with the land-locked north-eastern States of India for regular trading, may be commissioned by this year. If the Indian agencies are believed, the Kaladan riverine project will be completed by July. But the ground situation in the southeast Asian nation (also known as Burma and Brahmadesh) does not endorse the proclamation. Agreed officially between New Delhi and Naypietaw (earlier Rangoon) in 2008, the project now faces a severe security challenge due to an ongoing civil war across the Land of Golden Pagodas.

The complex situation evolved as the powerful ethnic armed group Arakan Army recently captured Paletwa, an important transit point for the Kaladan project in Chin State, after defeating the ruling military regime. Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, remains under the control of the dictators, but the port city continues facing offensives from the anti-junta armed fighters.  Not only Rakhine and Chin States, the entire country has been witnessing a sociopolitical turmoil. The military junta is losing their territories gradually to the resistant forces supported by common Burmese nationals with arms on their hands. Currently the Min Aung Hlaing led junta controls less than 25% of Myanmar townships, where 25% slips into full conflict zones (others went to the control of armed rebels).

It may be mentioned, the Three Brotherhood Alliance which comprises Arakan Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) launched a massive offensive under Operation 1027 in late 2023. Till date, the ethnic groups and resistance forces have gained full control over 144 townships, leaving only 107 under the junta’s authority. The junta has already lost 173 military battalion headquarters including two regional military commands, six command headquarters and six strategic military bases. The Buddhist majority nation witnessed the killing of over 6000 civilians and displacing 3.3 million people including women and children. The essential commodities have been prevented or restricted from transporting and distributing by the junta among the affected people and 19 million people (one third of Myanmar’s population) now slip into a humanitarian crisis.

Indian States of Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh share an international border of 1,643 kilometer with Myanmar and in most places the borders remain porous, which have been used by the insurgents and smugglers to put the region in a volatile situation from time to again. Now the Indian federal government in New Delhi has to engage both the junta and ethnic rebel groups for consultations. Recently, some Burmese ethnic groups were invited to New Delhi for interactions, where the meeting with Arakan Army representatives was reported as fruitful. Another round of discussions initiated by India’s foreign ministry officials was organized in Bangkok and recently with a positive note Indian Ambassador in Yangon along with other dignitaries also visited Sittwe port in the Bay of Bengal to review the ongoing operations and related developments.