The arrest of seven foreigners, including six Ukrainians and one known US mercenary, Matthew VanDyke, for illegally crossing into Myanmar, supplying weapons, and providing drone training to armed rebel groups, has once again fanned the theory of a long-term Western conspiracy to carve out a Christian majority state from contiguous parts of northeastern India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.
VanDyke is an internationally renowned, notorious figure who first gained attention during the Libyan Civil War in 2011, when he joined rebel fighters on the ground and was imprisoned.
Subsequently, VanDyke founded an organisation called Sons of Liberty International (SOLI), which provides military training to local armed groups in conflict zones worldwide. Reportedly, he has also participated in the Syrian Civil War and the Russia-Ukraine War.
According to India’s premier counterterrorism agency, the NIA, as many as 14 Ukrainian nationals entered India on tourist visas on different dates. They flew to Guwahati and then travelled to Mizoram without the required documents, before illegally crossing into Myanmar.
While the theory that Western countries, primarily the US, are actively abetting armed insurgency to establish a Christian state in this region, similar to East Timor, that could also serve as a Western military base in the Bay of Bengal, was often dismissed as speculative and sensational, the arrest of these foreigners is a smoking gun and lends credence to these allegations.
The theory was first suggested by none other than former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024, was alluded to by the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Mizoram in 2025, and, with the arrest of these foreigners, can no longer be dismissed as a conspiracy theory.
Interestingly, the idea of a Christian-majority, ethno-nationalist state in the region, backed by Western powers, providing a military base to the US in the Bay of Bengal, and actively serving as a frontline state against Chinese interests in the region, is not as bizarre as it seems to be.
The idea is supported by the peculiar religious demography of the region, the long-standing connection of these communities to the Baptist Church in the US, pre-existing ethnic/tribal clevages, real or imagined grievances of injustice, and has a very long pedigree.
In fact, the idea goes back nearly a century and was initially floated by the UK during the dying days of British Imperialism.
In the 1940s, when India was about to gain independence, there was an attempt to carve out a separate ‘Crown Colony’ from the tribal hill districts of Northeast India and parts of Western Burma, directly under the control of the British Crown.
That ‘Crown Colony’ would have provided the UK a foothold in South Asia and the Bay of Bengal even after the end of their British Indian Empire, the so-called ‘Jewel in the Crown’.
Christian Country Carved Out Of India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar?
In 2024, months before her tragic fall as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina had claimed that “conspiracies” were being hatched to topple her government and that she may be assassinated just like her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
She further alleged that a Western power is conspiring to establish a “Christian country” out of Bangladesh and Myanmar, similar to East Timor.
She alleged that a “white man” offered her easy re-election in 2024 if she agreed to allow a foreign country to build an airbase in Bangladesh.
“If I allowed a certain country to build an airbase in Bangladesh, then I would have had no problem,” she said. The offer came from a “white man”, she said. “It may appear it is aimed at only one country, but it is not. I know where else they intend to go.”
“There will be more trouble,” she had warned.
“Like East Timor…they will carve out a Christian country, taking parts of Bangladesh (Chattogram) and Myanmar with a base in the Bay of Bengal.”
A few months after these comments, Hasina’s government was toppled in Bangladesh, and she had to flee the country.
In March 2025, Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma warned that foreign nationals, including those from the US and UK, were using the state as a transit route to enter Myanmar. These foreigners were suspected of training insurgent groups in Myanmar.
These foreigners were suspected of providing training in drone warfare and supplying sophisticated weapons to these rebels, including drones.
Notably, insurgents in both India’s northeast and in the Chin state of Myanmar have used drones in their armed struggle against security forces.
In September 2024, for the first time, armed rebels in Manipur used drones to drop bombs on security forces. This was the first time ever that drones were used in India by an insurgent group.
Similarly, armed rebels in the Chin state of Myanmar have regularly used armed drones to hit Myanmar security forces.
The Religious Demography of ‘Zo Land’
A Christian-majority country, caved out of Hindu-Majority India, Muslim-majority Bangladesh, and Buddhist-majority Myanmar might seem bizarre; however, the peculiar religious demography of this region could support this idea.
The so-called Christian majority, ethno-nationalist country has also been called “Zo land” (or Zogam/Zoram), which refers to the ancestral homeland of the Zo people, a Kuki-Chin-Mizo ethnic group inhabiting parts of India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.
The Kuki tribes of Manipur, the Mizo tribes of Mizoram, the Chin people of Myanmar, and the tribal people in Bandarban district and adjoining areas of Bangladesh’s Chittagong division have recently collectively started calling themselves the ‘Zo’ people.
All of these tribes are also Christian-majority.
For instance, Manipur has approximately 41.3% Christian population. However, the state’s population is divided along ethnic and religious lines.
Manipur has two large groups: Meiteis and Kukis.
The Meiteis, who mostly live in the Manipur plains, are overwhelmingly Hindu.
The Kukis, living in the hilly areas of Manipur, are overwhelmingly Christian (up to 98%).
Similarly, in the Mizoram state of India, the Christian population is 87 percent.
In the Chin state of Myanmar, the Christian population is over 85 percent.
The Bandarban district of Bangladesh also has a significant Christian minority.
These people, the Kuki-Chin-Mizo or the ‘Zo’ people, are, therefore, connected by religious and ethnic ties.
They also live in a geographically contiguous region comprising India’s Manipur and Mizoram states, Myanmar’s Chin State, and Bangladesh’s Chittagong Division.
However, their ancestral lands have been divided into three different countries.
Ironically, the same colonial state that is responsible for Christianizing them was also responsible for dividing their ancestral lands into three different countries.
The Coming of Christianity in India’s North East
In the 19th century, most of these people followed various tribal and animistic religions.
Nagaland and Mizoram came under British control in the 19th century following the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–1826) and the Treaty of Yandabo.
The British annexed Assam and, by 1880, brought the Naga Hills under control through military expeditions. Similarly, Mizoram (Lushai Hills) was controlled by 1890-1895 through punitive expeditions.
The British encouraged Christian missionary work in these tribal areas. At the same time, the British imposed an inner-line permit regime for these areas, which helped shape a separate identity for these groups, distinct from the rest of India.
Most of the conversion took place in the 20th century, between 1931 and 1951.
In the 1940s, when it became apparent that India would gain independence, a few colonial administrators floated the idea of a Christian-majority ‘Crown colony’ in India’s northeast, to be administered directly from London.
The plan would have ensured a British base in South Asia even after India’s independence.
The plan was known as The Coupland Plan.
Named after its architect, Sir Reginald Coupland, this plan proposed creating a separate administrative unit comprising the tribal, Christian-majority areas of Assam and the tribal regions of Burma (present-day Myanmar). The core idea was to keep these territories under direct British control even after India gained independence in 1947.
The idea was initially kept secret, but soon it gained popularity and a degree of acceptance, both among the tribals as well as in the British bureaucracy. The way maps were being redrawn around the world meant anything was possible.
Singapore, Bermuda, Aden, and Gibraltar were already British Crown colonies, and so was Hong Kong.
However, multiple factors, including fierce opposition from the Indian National Congress, the economic dependence of these regions on the Indian plains, and opposition by many tribal leaders themselves, ensured that the plan was quietly abandoned by 1946.
Still, the British divided these regions into three separate countries. Chhitangong was a Buddhist-majority region, and thus, according to the logic of Indian partition, it should have become part of India. Yet, Britishers made it part of Muslim-majority Pakistan.
In 1971, after Bangladesh’s independence, it became part of Bangladesh.
Burma was officially separated from India in 1937, separating indigenous communities like the Nagas, Kukis, and Mizos.
Following India’s independence in 1947 and Burma’s in 1948, the border became an international frontier.
So, the British colonial state, which encouraged the conversion of these tribal communities to Christianity, thereby helping to emerge pan-ethno-religious identities, and formulated the idea of a separate Crown colony, was also responsible for dividing these communities into three countries.
Now, nearly eight decades later, the idea of a separate Christian-majority country in India’s northeast is again fanned by Western countries, primarily the US, hoping to gain a military base in the Bay of Bengal, and a frontier to destabilise South Asia and check China’s expansion.
The plan was earlier alluded to by Sheikh Hasina and the Mizoram Chief Minister; now, the arrest of these individuals is further proof that this is not just some conspiracy theory, but foreign intelligence agencies and transnational mercenary groups are already working on such a plan.
- Sumit Ahlawat has over a decade of experience in news media. He has worked with Press Trust of India, Times Now, Zee News, Economic Times, and Microsoft News. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Media and Modern History from the University of Sheffield, UK.
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- He can be reached at ahlawat.sumit85 (at) gmail.com
