Northeastern View | India’s relationship with Myanmar’s Arakan Army — it’s complicated

On February 6, India’s ministry of external affairs issued an advisory for Indian nationals to not travel to western Myanmar’s Rakhine State. “Operation Leech” was likely undertaken at the behest of the Myanmar military, but for India, it severely dented India’s relationship with the Arakanese revolutionaries. In fact, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which keeps track of such acts of violence using media reports as well as government documents, the Indian army, at the Myanmar military’s request, killed five and apprehended 8-10 AA rebels two years earlier. To make matters worse, in November 2019, a 60-year-old Indian man working on the Kaladan project in Chin State’s Paletwa township died in the AA’s custody, likely of a heart attack.