Removing the chaffs
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: October 16, 2013 -
The very word 'commando' is supposed to evoke an image of a disciplined and specialized unit force well-trained in assault on conventional military targets.
But our home-bred police commandos have been evoking an image which is just the opposite.
Instead of any sign on specializing in counter-terrorist operations, security duties of VIPs or performing other high-risk operations which regular police can't carried out, the involvement of Manipur Police Commandos in various illegal activities right from petty crimes of snatching mobile phones or robbing unsuspecting passers-by of their money and other valuables to the more serious crimes like rape, fake encounters, drug smugglings, etc, are something well-documented and well-known to everyone right from small kids to elderly persons and far and wide.
In another word, Manipur Police Commandos are known more for their notoriety which would even put the hardest criminals to shame.
So, apart from the question of legality of setting up or having such a commando unit in the State Police Department, how well-trained and better equipped are the Manipur Police Commandos to be able to live up to their name tag as 'Commandos' in the real sense of the term in action as well as in spirit, and, more importantly, whether they are really qualified to be bracketed with the elite group of commandos has always remained debatable.
In such a situation, it is very encouraging to know that steps have been taken up to identity and keep the untrained police commandos at bay.
Under the initiative of MK Singh, the newly appointed Director General of Police (DGP) of Manipur, who feels that the State Police Commando unit has been set up for some other higher purpose other than lathi-charging Meira Paibis, a three-member departmental committee has been set up to find out whether the Commando personnel in Manipur, who are seen around moving with sophisticated and deadly weapons slugging on their shoulders, have actually undergone the required training to become a commando or not.
The Committee comprising DIG (range IV) Dr Soibam Ibomcha as its Chairman and Deputy Superintendent of Police Th Krishnatombi, who has served as a Commando for many years and a Commandant of Manipur Rifles as members, is to investigate and identity the police commando personnel who have not undergone the required training and submit its report to the DGP within a month's time.
This initiative of the DGP is really appreciable.
It is something which the people could not have expected from others who have come and gone before him despite the urgency to remove the chaffs that spoil the image of the entire State Police Department so as to restore the public trust.
DGP MK Das may be here for only three months, but all that we would like to see is the good work initiated by him is carried out by anyone who comes after him.
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