Wikileaks on Manipur reported by The Hindu
i) http://www.thehindu.com/news/the-india-cables/the-cables/article1556742.ece
ii) http://www.thehindu.com/news/the-india-cables/article1556697.ece
From the Wikileaks on New Delhi Ebbassy section, http://213.251.145.96/origin/60_0.html, listed below are the information I could gather in relation to north-east India.
It is given in the format {No.}{ Link}{[snippets from the link]}
i) http://213.251.145.96/cable/2005/06/05NEWDELHI4721.html
[¶11. (C) India and the US now routinely engage in military exercises of growing scope and sophistication. The Malabar 2004 naval exercise tested newly developed USN-IN Standard Operating Procedures (a key step toward interoperability) and included the first visit of a US nuclear powered warship to an Indian port. Malabar 2005 will include aircraft carrier operations, and use of a common operating picture and encrypted communications. The Air Force exercise Cope India is rapidly becoming the premier Air-to-Air Combat exercise in the Pacific. In November of this year, 12 F-16 Block 50s from Misawa, Japan and 1 x E-3B AWACS aircraft from Kadena, Japan will deploy to Kalaikunda Air Force Station in India for Dissimilar Air Combat Training against Indian Air Force SU-30MKIs, Mirage 2000-5, and the upgraded Mig 21(bis) fighter aircraft. This year brings added interest as the GOI is seriously considering purchasing the F-16 for the 126 Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) acquisition. US Army and Special Forces un its have participated in exercises in the Himalayas and the jungles of eastern India while Indian Army units participate in exercises in Alaska, Hawaii, and California. These exercises and many others were well covered in the Indian press and are viewed here as opportunities for the Indian military to display their professional prowess and to signal India's credibility as a regional power. ]
ii) http://213.251.145.96/cable/2007/02/07NEWDELHI847.html
[Given the reluctance of Bangladesh to grant India transit rights, Burma represents the only viable alternative for linking the isolated northeastern states with ASEAN markets and beyond, which is critical for a long term resolution to Northeast India's insurgency woes.
Kumar said that the GOI's current policy of engagement with Burma was absolutely necessary as ""The ULFA guys hiding in Burma are screwing the hell out of us!"" He asserted that Burma was an essential part of the GOI's two-pronged approach to tackling its insurgency problem in the northeast. The first element of the strategy is military, and ""Burma is the only one helping us."" Pointing to alleged Bangladesh unwillingness to confront Indian insurgent groups camped on its borders, Kumar argued, ""Tell Bangladesh to cooperate and I am happy to say bye-bye Myanmar."" Referring to the second approach, Kumar stated that ""Bangladesh's stubbornness in allowing access to transit routes for trade leaves us with Burma as the only alternative to connect the northeast to ASEAN markets,"" and provide an economic incentive for ULFA to lay down its arms. ""Do you want us to connect through China?,"" he asked. Kumar commented that ASEAN and China maintained close ties with Burma but did not face the same pressure from the U.S. to refrain from engaging. ""Why not pick on Musharraf?"" he queried, ""Where is democracy there?"" PolCouns pushed back, noting that the Burmese junta was using its military might to NEW DELHI 00000847 002 OF 002 violently repress innocent civilians. He also warned that India may experience a strong backlash for supporting the junta when a legitimate Burmese government comes to power. Kumar acknowledged that the possibility was a GOI concern.
The Joint Secretary reiterated that the USG needs to understand that the ULFA violence is driving the Indo-Burma relationship and connectivity to ASEAN as an economic alternative to ULFA insurgency was a vital part of the effort to quell the insurgency. He claimed that competition for natural resources was not a big factor. ""There is not enough gas for both India and China,"" he declared, ""and China is going to get it. However, all is not rosy in their relationship (China-Burma) either. We got entry into Burma because (the junta) thought that the Chinese were becoming too close."" When queried about the specific objectives of Union Home Minister Duggal's upcoming visit, Kumar asserted that the GOI's sole aim is to push the Burmese for more aggressive action against ULFA. He stated that border infrastructure projects will be discussed at length in order ""to close the loophole to the Burmese argument that their lack of action is due to lack of access."" In response to questions regarding the GOI's 103 million dollar upgrade project at Sitwe Port, Kumar emphasized that it was a vital cog in connecting the northeast to ASEAN markets via the Asian Development Bank highway project. He closed by noting that ""negotiations with ULFA to lay down its arms is not enough. Viable economic opportunities and development are the only way to achieve a lasting peace in the northeast.]
iii) http://213.251.145.96/cable/2007/11/07NEWDELHI4898.html
[SUMMARY: MEA Joint Secretary T.S. Tirumurti acknowledged that the Government of India (GOI) denied a Burmese request for military equipment but did not comment on PolCouns' suggestion that the GOI announce the decision publicly. Tirumurti reported that three Burmese recently arrested in Manipur for illegal entry were neither economic migrants nor asylum seekers but traveling to train at a madrassah in Uttar Pradesh. He rejected the need for UNHCR access to asylum seekers, noting that the GOI was ""quite capable of doing it ourselves."" Tirumurti confirmed that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is assiduously pursuing various development projects to open up ASEAN trade routes to the northeastern states including:
----- Two projects running through Burma offer connectivity to the northeastern states -----
¶4. (C) Addressing MEA's involvement in the economic development of the northeastern states, Tirumurti reiterated that opening up trade routes to ASEAN for the northeastern states was an important focus for the GOI. He declared that the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transport Project deal was near completion, and the GOI was ready to begin work. He also commented that the GOI was pursuing a Tri-Lateral Highway that will connect the northeast to Thailand. He explained that, although the complete project had yet to be costed, the proposed road construction would connect the Imphal- Moreh road in India's northeastern state of Manipur with Mae Sot, Thailand, passing through Mandalay and Bagan. Tirumurti conceded that the extent to which the two projects would develop as trade routes was ""a leap of faith."" ]
iv) http://213.251.145.96/cable/2005/04/05NEWDELHI2606.html
[¶1. (S) Summary: In a April 1 confidential briefing on GOI detention centers in Kashmir, ICRC XXXXXXXXXXXX described to D/Polcouns torture methods and relatively stable trend lines of prisoner abuses by Indian security forces, based on data derived from 1491 interviews with detainees during 2002-2004. The continued ill-treatment of detainees, despite longstanding ICRC-GOI dialogue, have led the ICRC to conclude that the New Delhi condones torture. The MEA/MHA recently protested ICRC presence and activities in J&K, and keeps the organization in legal limbo, but allows their operations to continue. Security forces in J&K are open to ICRC seminars in international humanitarian law (IHL). ICRC stressed that it was not asking for USG action, but may seek to mobilize support in the future, if its relations with the GOI do not improve. Separately, the media reported that COAS LTG JJ Singh put human rights issues at the center of an April 4 conference of army commanders. End Summary. ICRC XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX gave us a confidential briefing on the ICRC Kashmir program, the first such detailed and organized presentation Embassy has received in a number of years. The XXXXXXXXXXXX have limited the information they have exchanged with us to general comments on the human rights situation in Kashmir and the Northeast “in order to respect their confidentiality agreement with the GOI,” with which relations have been strained. XXXXXXXXXXXX intimated that the reason he was departing from this practice was ICRC annoyance with the GOI, and his view that the USG would be an ally in ICRC attempts to regularize its status in India. The UK, Holland, and France would receive the same briefing, he stated.
¶5. (S) ICRC staff made 177 visits to detention centers in J&K and elsewhere (primarily the Northeast) between 2002-2004, meeting with 1491 detainees, 1296 of which were private interviews. XXXXXXXXXXXX considered this group a representative sample of detainees in Kashmir, but stressed that they had not been allowed access to all detainees. In 852 cases, detainees reported what ICRC refers to as “IT” (ill-treatment): 171 persons were beaten, the remaining 681 subjected to one or more of six forms of torture: electricity (498 cases), suspension from ceiling (381), “roller” (a round metal object put on the thighs of sitting person, which prison personnel then sit on, crushing muscles -- 294); stretching (legs split 180 degrees -- 181), water (various forms -- 234), or sexual (302). Numbers add up to more than 681, as many detainees were subjected to more than one form of IT. ICRC stressed that all the branches of the security forces used these forms of IT and torture.
GOI Points to Improvements]
v) http://213.251.145.96/cable/2006/06/06NEWDELHI3997.html
[¶5. (C) The impact of a biological attack or the accidental release of a disease-causing agent in India could be devastating, given the high population density in Indian cities and the growing mobility of India’s middle class. Most biological warfare (BW) agents do not produce symptoms for many hours or several days, so Indians exposed to a contagious BW agent could easily spread the agent to thousands before symptoms manifest. Release in an Indian city could facilitate international spread -- Delhi airport alone sees planes depart daily to numerous European, Asian, Middle Eastern and African destinations, as well as non-stop flights to Chicago and Newark.
But GOI Says India Not Ready For Bioterrorism
¶21. (C) Bioterrorism would at most appeal to the larger jihadi terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) -- XXXXXXXXXXXXtold us recently that the GOI believes jihadi groups are seeking to recruit or employ biology/bio-tech PhD graduates with an aim to carrying out bioterrorist attacks (Ref C). Naxals and Northeast separatist terrorists rely heavily on local support, their area of operations is limited to the territory they seek to “liberate,” and they lack operational reach into major cities like Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore -- all factors that suggest they would not seek to employ bioterrorism. “Groups like al-Qa’ida and its affiliates like LeT and JeM, who are fighting for a religious cause, are more likely to indulge in the use of BW since they are not concerned about popular support,” XXXXXXXXXXXX suggested. He claimed that such groups already possess the combination of expertise and contacts to gain access to harmful bio-agents. Even if terrorist groups active in India do not yet possess in-house BW capabilities, India boasts more capable
NEW DELHI 00003997 008 OF 009
biological scientists -- well in the thousands -- than any other developing country. Recruitment of Indian scientists by anti-US extremists, either for ideological brotherhood or for commercial gain, could pose a significant threat. XXXXXXXXXXXX terrorism analyst XXXXXXXXXXXX noted that jihadis over the past year have shown they can adapt to using novel tactics and targeting economic and scientific institutions that fuel India’s engines of growth and prosperity; under this rubric, a bioterrorism attack could wreak havoc with India’s economy and cripple investor confidence.
GOI Starting to Take Action?]
i) http://www.thehindu.com/news/the-india-cables/the-cables/article1556742.ece
ii) http://www.thehindu.com/news/the-india-cables/article1556697.ece
From the Wikileaks on New Delhi Ebbassy section, http://213.251.145.96/origin/60_0.html, listed below are the information I could gather in relation to north-east India.
It is given in the format {No.}{ Link}{[snippets from the link]}
i) http://213.251.145.96/cable/2005/06/05NEWDELHI4721.html
[¶11. (C) India and the US now routinely engage in military exercises of growing scope and sophistication. The Malabar 2004 naval exercise tested newly developed USN-IN Standard Operating Procedures (a key step toward interoperability) and included the first visit of a US nuclear powered warship to an Indian port. Malabar 2005 will include aircraft carrier operations, and use of a common operating picture and encrypted communications. The Air Force exercise Cope India is rapidly becoming the premier Air-to-Air Combat exercise in the Pacific. In November of this year, 12 F-16 Block 50s from Misawa, Japan and 1 x E-3B AWACS aircraft from Kadena, Japan will deploy to Kalaikunda Air Force Station in India for Dissimilar Air Combat Training against Indian Air Force SU-30MKIs, Mirage 2000-5, and the upgraded Mig 21(bis) fighter aircraft. This year brings added interest as the GOI is seriously considering purchasing the F-16 for the 126 Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) acquisition. US Army and Special Forces un its have participated in exercises in the Himalayas and the jungles of eastern India while Indian Army units participate in exercises in Alaska, Hawaii, and California. These exercises and many others were well covered in the Indian press and are viewed here as opportunities for the Indian military to display their professional prowess and to signal India's credibility as a regional power. ]
ii) http://213.251.145.96/cable/2007/02/07NEWDELHI847.html
[Given the reluctance of Bangladesh to grant India transit rights, Burma represents the only viable alternative for linking the isolated northeastern states with ASEAN markets and beyond, which is critical for a long term resolution to Northeast India's insurgency woes.
Kumar said that the GOI's current policy of engagement with Burma was absolutely necessary as ""The ULFA guys hiding in Burma are screwing the hell out of us!"" He asserted that Burma was an essential part of the GOI's two-pronged approach to tackling its insurgency problem in the northeast. The first element of the strategy is military, and ""Burma is the only one helping us."" Pointing to alleged Bangladesh unwillingness to confront Indian insurgent groups camped on its borders, Kumar argued, ""Tell Bangladesh to cooperate and I am happy to say bye-bye Myanmar."" Referring to the second approach, Kumar stated that ""Bangladesh's stubbornness in allowing access to transit routes for trade leaves us with Burma as the only alternative to connect the northeast to ASEAN markets,"" and provide an economic incentive for ULFA to lay down its arms. ""Do you want us to connect through China?,"" he asked. Kumar commented that ASEAN and China maintained close ties with Burma but did not face the same pressure from the U.S. to refrain from engaging. ""Why not pick on Musharraf?"" he queried, ""Where is democracy there?"" PolCouns pushed back, noting that the Burmese junta was using its military might to NEW DELHI 00000847 002 OF 002 violently repress innocent civilians. He also warned that India may experience a strong backlash for supporting the junta when a legitimate Burmese government comes to power. Kumar acknowledged that the possibility was a GOI concern.
The Joint Secretary reiterated that the USG needs to understand that the ULFA violence is driving the Indo-Burma relationship and connectivity to ASEAN as an economic alternative to ULFA insurgency was a vital part of the effort to quell the insurgency. He claimed that competition for natural resources was not a big factor. ""There is not enough gas for both India and China,"" he declared, ""and China is going to get it. However, all is not rosy in their relationship (China-Burma) either. We got entry into Burma because (the junta) thought that the Chinese were becoming too close."" When queried about the specific objectives of Union Home Minister Duggal's upcoming visit, Kumar asserted that the GOI's sole aim is to push the Burmese for more aggressive action against ULFA. He stated that border infrastructure projects will be discussed at length in order ""to close the loophole to the Burmese argument that their lack of action is due to lack of access."" In response to questions regarding the GOI's 103 million dollar upgrade project at Sitwe Port, Kumar emphasized that it was a vital cog in connecting the northeast to ASEAN markets via the Asian Development Bank highway project. He closed by noting that ""negotiations with ULFA to lay down its arms is not enough. Viable economic opportunities and development are the only way to achieve a lasting peace in the northeast.]
iii) http://213.251.145.96/cable/2007/11/07NEWDELHI4898.html
[SUMMARY: MEA Joint Secretary T.S. Tirumurti acknowledged that the Government of India (GOI) denied a Burmese request for military equipment but did not comment on PolCouns' suggestion that the GOI announce the decision publicly. Tirumurti reported that three Burmese recently arrested in Manipur for illegal entry were neither economic migrants nor asylum seekers but traveling to train at a madrassah in Uttar Pradesh. He rejected the need for UNHCR access to asylum seekers, noting that the GOI was ""quite capable of doing it ourselves."" Tirumurti confirmed that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is assiduously pursuing various development projects to open up ASEAN trade routes to the northeastern states including:
----- Two projects running through Burma offer connectivity to the northeastern states -----
¶4. (C) Addressing MEA's involvement in the economic development of the northeastern states, Tirumurti reiterated that opening up trade routes to ASEAN for the northeastern states was an important focus for the GOI. He declared that the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transport Project deal was near completion, and the GOI was ready to begin work. He also commented that the GOI was pursuing a Tri-Lateral Highway that will connect the northeast to Thailand. He explained that, although the complete project had yet to be costed, the proposed road construction would connect the Imphal- Moreh road in India's northeastern state of Manipur with Mae Sot, Thailand, passing through Mandalay and Bagan. Tirumurti conceded that the extent to which the two projects would develop as trade routes was ""a leap of faith."" ]
iv) http://213.251.145.96/cable/2005/04/05NEWDELHI2606.html
[¶1. (S) Summary: In a April 1 confidential briefing on GOI detention centers in Kashmir, ICRC XXXXXXXXXXXX described to D/Polcouns torture methods and relatively stable trend lines of prisoner abuses by Indian security forces, based on data derived from 1491 interviews with detainees during 2002-2004. The continued ill-treatment of detainees, despite longstanding ICRC-GOI dialogue, have led the ICRC to conclude that the New Delhi condones torture. The MEA/MHA recently protested ICRC presence and activities in J&K, and keeps the organization in legal limbo, but allows their operations to continue. Security forces in J&K are open to ICRC seminars in international humanitarian law (IHL). ICRC stressed that it was not asking for USG action, but may seek to mobilize support in the future, if its relations with the GOI do not improve. Separately, the media reported that COAS LTG JJ Singh put human rights issues at the center of an April 4 conference of army commanders. End Summary. ICRC XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX gave us a confidential briefing on the ICRC Kashmir program, the first such detailed and organized presentation Embassy has received in a number of years. The XXXXXXXXXXXX have limited the information they have exchanged with us to general comments on the human rights situation in Kashmir and the Northeast “in order to respect their confidentiality agreement with the GOI,” with which relations have been strained. XXXXXXXXXXXX intimated that the reason he was departing from this practice was ICRC annoyance with the GOI, and his view that the USG would be an ally in ICRC attempts to regularize its status in India. The UK, Holland, and France would receive the same briefing, he stated.
¶5. (S) ICRC staff made 177 visits to detention centers in J&K and elsewhere (primarily the Northeast) between 2002-2004, meeting with 1491 detainees, 1296 of which were private interviews. XXXXXXXXXXXX considered this group a representative sample of detainees in Kashmir, but stressed that they had not been allowed access to all detainees. In 852 cases, detainees reported what ICRC refers to as “IT” (ill-treatment): 171 persons were beaten, the remaining 681 subjected to one or more of six forms of torture: electricity (498 cases), suspension from ceiling (381), “roller” (a round metal object put on the thighs of sitting person, which prison personnel then sit on, crushing muscles -- 294); stretching (legs split 180 degrees -- 181), water (various forms -- 234), or sexual (302). Numbers add up to more than 681, as many detainees were subjected to more than one form of IT. ICRC stressed that all the branches of the security forces used these forms of IT and torture.
GOI Points to Improvements]
v) http://213.251.145.96/cable/2006/06/06NEWDELHI3997.html
[¶5. (C) The impact of a biological attack or the accidental release of a disease-causing agent in India could be devastating, given the high population density in Indian cities and the growing mobility of India’s middle class. Most biological warfare (BW) agents do not produce symptoms for many hours or several days, so Indians exposed to a contagious BW agent could easily spread the agent to thousands before symptoms manifest. Release in an Indian city could facilitate international spread -- Delhi airport alone sees planes depart daily to numerous European, Asian, Middle Eastern and African destinations, as well as non-stop flights to Chicago and Newark.
But GOI Says India Not Ready For Bioterrorism
¶21. (C) Bioterrorism would at most appeal to the larger jihadi terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) -- XXXXXXXXXXXXtold us recently that the GOI believes jihadi groups are seeking to recruit or employ biology/bio-tech PhD graduates with an aim to carrying out bioterrorist attacks (Ref C). Naxals and Northeast separatist terrorists rely heavily on local support, their area of operations is limited to the territory they seek to “liberate,” and they lack operational reach into major cities like Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore -- all factors that suggest they would not seek to employ bioterrorism. “Groups like al-Qa’ida and its affiliates like LeT and JeM, who are fighting for a religious cause, are more likely to indulge in the use of BW since they are not concerned about popular support,” XXXXXXXXXXXX suggested. He claimed that such groups already possess the combination of expertise and contacts to gain access to harmful bio-agents. Even if terrorist groups active in India do not yet possess in-house BW capabilities, India boasts more capable
NEW DELHI 00003997 008 OF 009
biological scientists -- well in the thousands -- than any other developing country. Recruitment of Indian scientists by anti-US extremists, either for ideological brotherhood or for commercial gain, could pose a significant threat. XXXXXXXXXXXX terrorism analyst XXXXXXXXXXXX noted that jihadis over the past year have shown they can adapt to using novel tactics and targeting economic and scientific institutions that fuel India’s engines of growth and prosperity; under this rubric, a bioterrorism attack could wreak havoc with India’s economy and cripple investor confidence.
GOI Starting to Take Action?]
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