You missed the context (two front war) in which I made that assertion. You missed the important cardinal point i.e. democracy which means there will be stake holders withing Burma to restore stability.
I can explain it further If you would ask and we have a thread on two front war which is now dormant for long. Further more I have already conceded that at present there is no need and It came from my reading of posters
@pmaitra @CrYsIs who has forced me to think in terms of first developing NE; which I think is reasonable, before we upgrade our offensive capabilities from present defensive capabilities.
Yes, indeed, local development will take the wind out of these separatist tendencies. Once the local population see that they have a better future being in India, they themselves will shun violence. Many people in Kashmir at one point romanticized the ideals of the JKLF, but such people are very few today, as they have realized violence and hatred will not solve any problem.
@rockey 71 pointed out a very interesting facet of history that I was not aware of.
Arakan was a separate state, that was geographically divided from the rest of Burma by the mountain range called
Arakan Yoma (Arakan Mountains).
If we see the Indo-Burmese border, they roughly follow this geographical divide, and stop abruptly with Mizoram. If the border were to continue south, it would include Arakan firmly within India.
Arakan was defeated and occupied by Burma, but later, The British East India Company managed to take it back from Burma. However, later on, when the whole of South Asia became part of the British Empire, Arakan was included with British Burma, and since then, it has remained a part of Burma, which is now known as Myanmar.
Essentially, the basic Burmese population belongs to the Irrawady basin, which lies between the Arakan Mountains and the Shan Plateau. The regions north-west of the Irrawady Basin is populated by numerous tribes, just like our North East.
Now, the question is, should India try to be friends with Myanmar and help it keep Arakan, or should it allow Arakan to seceded to eventually become part of India? The US would support it, only if a major US military base is allowed in Arakan, which India and PRC will never allow. Therefore, it is in the interests of both PRC and India to ensure that region is stable. That, however, does not explain why PRC is covertly funding the insurgent groups in the North East.