GUWAHATI: An escalation of violence in Manipur has prompted MHA to despatch 2,500-odd additional central paramilitary personnel to the state, most of them for deployment in Jiribam, a relatively new flashpoint of the ethnic stir that has reported 13 fatalities since Nov 7.
The state, which has witnessed bloodletting on both sides of the hill-valley divide over the past 19 months, will now have a combined deployment of 218 companies of central armed police forces (CAPF), constituting over 29,000 personnel. The Army and Assam Rifles form another ring of security.
As per MHA directive issued Tuesday, 15 of 20 companies of reinforcements comprise CRPF units repositioned from Assam. The other five companies are of BSF transferred from Tripura.
“The state govt of Manipur is instructed to formulate the detailed deployment plan, in consultation with the respective CAPFs,” the order states. “The ministry anticipates swift normalisation of the situation and has sanctioned this deployment to maintain law and order until the month-end.”
The updated CAPF deployment in the state stands at 115 CRPF companies, eight from RAF, 84 of BSF, five ITBP units and six from SSB. The initial contingent of approximately 1,200 personnel is expected to reach Imphal late Wednesday, officials said.
Lt Gen Abhijit Pendharkar, GOC, Army’s 3rd Corps, reviewed “operational preparedness” during an inspection of the Red Shield Division based in Leimakhong.
Jiribam has been on the boil since June, culminating in a mother of three being allegedly raped before being burned to death on Nov 7. Last Monday, 10 “armed militants” were killed in a purported CRPF-police counteroffensive after they attacked two security posts. The bodies of two elderly residents of a shelter for the displaced were found Tuesday in the vicinity of the gunfight site — one with bullet wounds and the other charred. In Bishnupur, suspected tribal militants shot dead a woman harvesting paddy on Nov 8.
Kuki Students’ Organisation has declared “non-cooperation” with CRPF and demanded all personnel be confined to their camps until the force apologises for killing “village volunteers” & passing them off as “militants”.
