Operation Golden Bird

{{Infobox military conflict | conflict = Operation Golden Bird | image = | caption = | date = April – May 1995 | place = Indo-Burma border | casus = | territory = Rebels surrender all territory in India and Myanmar | result = {{ublist|Indian-Burmese victory}} *38 rebels were killed, 118 captured | combatant1 = {{flagicon|India}} India <br> {{flagicon|Myanmar}} Myanmar | combatant2 = 22px ULFA <br> |22px National Democratic Front of Boroland }}

'''Operation Golden Bird''' was an Indian-Myanmar military operation conducted by the Indian Army in April–May 1995.<ref>{{cite web |title=ARMS AND THE MEN |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140719/jsp/opinion/story_18628341.jsp#.VXcYi4uUdyw |url-status=dead |access-date=2015-06-09 |archive-date=2015-06-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610050454/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140719/jsp/opinion/story_18628341.jsp#.VXcYi4uUdyw }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/column/china-has-lost-the-jade-kingdom-india-must-not/20120527.htm|title=China has lost the 'Jade kingdom', India must not|date=27 May 2012|work=Rediff}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/india-seeks-release-of-suu-kyi/article1923867.ece|title=India seeks release of Suu Kyi|work=The Hindu}}{{Dead link|date=June 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/mar/23/20070323-103215-4113r/?page=all|title=India seen arming Burma to counter Chinese|work=The Washington Times}}</ref>

The operation was initiated by the 57th Mountain Division of the Indian Army, which tracked down and decapitated a rebel column that had picked up a huge consignment of weapons at the Wyakaung beach, on the Myanmar-Bangladesh coast south of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h9KGAwAAQBAJ&q=Wyakaung+beach&pg=PA185|title=Troubled Periphery: The Crisis of India's North East By Subir Bhaumik|isbn=9788132104797|last1=Bhaumik|first1=Subir|date=10 December 2009}}</ref> and was moving that through the jungles of Mizoram, Northeast India.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130919/jsp/opinion/story_17355073.jsp#.VXcl5YuUdyw|title=Slipping Through Gaps in the Dragnet|access-date=2015-06-09|archive-date=2015-06-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610050500/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130919/jsp/opinion/story_17355073.jsp#.VXcl5YuUdyw|url-status=dead}}</ref> The consignment was to be delivered in Manipur, India.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icwa.in/pdfs/IBindiamyanmar.pdf|title=India and Myanmar: Choices for Military Cooperation|access-date=2015-06-09|archive-date=2015-09-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924032659/http://www.icwa.in/pdfs/IBindiamyanmar.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{Better source needed|date=June 2022}}</ref> The operation was named after a Grimm Brothers fairytale.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/cross-border-operations-how-mea-helped-set-stage-for-strike/|title=Cross-border Operations: How MEA helped set stage for strike|date=10 June 2015 }}</ref> Operation Golden Bird was a joint India-Myanmar military operation carried out along the Mizoram border that led to the killing of dozens of militants.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dhar |first=Pannalal |title=Ethnic Unrest in India and Her Neighbours : Also Includes Europe, West Asia, the Balkans and Africa |publisher=Deep & Deep Publications |year=1998 |isbn=9788171008186 |location=New Delhi |pages=133 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rieffel |first=Alexis |title=Myanmar/Burma : Inside Challenges, Outside Interests |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8157-0506-2 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=143 |language=en}}</ref> It was considered to be a successful counter-insurgency operation by the Indian Army.<ref>{{cite web|title=Manipur ambush: Why Army saw the worst attack in 20 years|url=http://www.dailyo.in/politics/manipur-attack-nscn-k-meitei-northeast-india-act-east-myanmar-isi-ulfa-afspa/story/1/4196.html}}{{Unreliable source?|date=June 2022}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=June 2022}}

==Background== {{Unreferenced section|date=June 2022}} right|thumb|200px|Location of Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh The weapons were purchased in Thailand and were brought by sea to Bangladesh, before being smuggled back to Northeast India by groups of rebel guerrillas. Wyakaung beach, located south of Bangladesh's coastal town of Cox's Bazar, was the most common landing spot for these weapons, but at least six other points in the Cox's Bazar district were also used. The guerrillas of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, the Manipuri groups, the United Liberation Front of Assam and the National Democratic Front of Boroland would then collect the weapons and carry them back via one of three routes: the Chittagong Hill Tracts-south Mizoram-east Manipur route, skirting the border with Burma; the Chittagong Hill Tracts-tripura-west Mizoram-west Manipur route; or the Chittagong-Sylhet-Meghalaya-Assam route. In the preceding several years, Sylhet-Meghalaya had been used more frequently by the rebels.

The Directorate General of Forces Intelligence helped the Northeast Indian rebel groups to safely land these weapons,{{cn|date=June 2022}} and only on a few occasions were weapons meant for the rebel groups intercepted by the Bangladesh police, who believed that the weapons were intended for criminals in that country. With Bangladesh emerging as the gateway to Northeast India for weapons imported from Thailand, the rebels in Tripura<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bhattacharyya |first=Rajeev |date=2022-02-15 |title=Guest Column {{!}} Myanmar Chin Armed Group’s Rivalry With Indian Rebel Outfits Dates Back Decades |url=https://www.irrawaddy.com/opinion/guest-column/myanmar-chin-armed-groups-rivalry-with-indian-rebel-outfits-dates-back-decades.html |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=The Irrawaddy |language=en-US}}</ref> were best located to carry them back. Both the National Liberation Front of Tripura and the All-Tripura Tiger Force secured weapons from the National Socialist Council of Nagaland. The National Democratic Front of Boroland and the United Liberation Front of Assam helped them cache the weapons at their bases in the Chittagong Hill Tracts before they were carried to their respective base areas in Northeast India.{{cn|date=July 2020}}

==The operation== [[File:Chittagong Hill Tracts locator map.svg|right|thumb|150px|Location of Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh]] Operation Golden Bird was initiated to intercept a column of north-eastern rebels —Naga, Manipuri and Assamese — travelling through the jungles of southern Mizoram after picking up a consignment of weapons that had landed at Wyakaung beach, on the Myanmar-Bangladesh coast.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-02-06/news/47089653_1_weapons-rebels-operation-golden-bird|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210060724/http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-02-06/news/47089653_1_weapons-rebels-operation-golden-bird|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 10, 2014|title=2004 Chittagong arms haul case exposes many terror links}}</ref> The operation was aimed at exposing the United Liberation Front of Assam, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland and Manipuri fighters in camps along the border. The Bangladesh military intelligence service, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, had helped carry the consignment in trucks to a hill base in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, from where the rebels had picked them up. The National Unity Party of Arakan guerrillas followed the whole operation, providing details to Indian military intelligence, on the basis of which India’s eastern army command initiated Operation Golden Bird. The rebel column was twice intercepted by Indian troops. It was a 45-day operation, but the operation ended abruptly as Rangoon ordered its army to pull out in the middle of the operation.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/myanmar-key-to-curbing-northeast-border-insurgency-115060700257_1.html|title=Myanmar key to curbing northeast border insurgency|newspaper=Business Standard India |date=7 June 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.idea.int/asia_pacific/myanmar/upload/chap4.pdf|title=4. India–Burma relations|access-date=2015-06-09|archive-date=2015-06-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610050836/http://www.idea.int/asia_pacific/myanmar/upload/chap4.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Myanmar army played its part by sealing its side of the border, until they were upset by the awarding of the Jawaharlal Nehru Award to Aung San Suu Kyi, and the survivors of the trapped rebel column were able to escape into the Myanmar's Chin Hills through gaps in the dragnet caused by the Myanmar Armed Forces' withdrawal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/army-crossed-border-to-target-militants-in-the-past-too/99/|title=Myanmar strike: This is not the first time India has conducted cross-border operations|date=10 June 2015 }}</ref>

==Casualties== 38 rebels were killed, 118 captured and more than 100 weapons were seized with large quantities of ammunition.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/NSA-skipped-Dhaka-trip-to-plan-Myanmar-Op/articleshow/47606793.cms|title=NSA skipped Dhaka trip to plan Myanmar Op|newspaper=The Times of India |date=10 June 2015 }}{{Better source needed|date=June 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main48.asp?filename=Ws241210Foreign_Affairs.asp|title=Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine|work=tehelka.com|access-date=2015-06-09|archive-date=2015-06-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610051122/http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main48.asp?filename=Ws241210Foreign_Affairs.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20091115/edit.htm#2|title=The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Opinions|work=tribuneindia.com|access-date=2015-06-09|archive-date=2015-06-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610050631/http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20091115/edit.htm#2|url-status=dead}}</ref> The captured rebels confessed to the weapons trail and India pressured Bangladesh during Khaleda Zia's first government (1991-1996) to close it. The Myanmar Army took some casualties in this operation.

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Operations involving special forces of India Category:Counterinsurgency operations Category:India–Myanmar relations Category:1995 in India Category:1995 in Myanmar Category:Insurgency in Northeast India