The truth behind the objection
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: February 02, 2024 -

IF the visuals of womenfolk in D Monophai village preventing Assam Rifles personnel from carrying out their patrolling duty and the press note issued by Village Volunteers, Tengnoupal directing shopkeepers in the Evening Bazar to close their shops to state forces are any indication, then one could safely say that the efforts of security forces to sanitise and secure Moreh from the control of armed elements whose writ runs large in the border town today are going to be an uphill task.

And, this task is not going to be accomplished that easily without the proper coordination and support among different units of Indian security forces deployed in Moreh for normalising the law-and-order situation after the border town has become the new battle ground of the ongoing violent ethnic conflict between the people of Kuki-Chin and Meitei/Meetei communities in Manipur.

In the viral video clips that were widely shared on various social media platforms, a large number of womenfolk belonging to Kuki-Chin community was seen pushing and dragging away Assam Rifles troopers who were on patrolling duty and asking them not to come to the village ever again.

Even as the armed personnel of the oldest paramilitary forces in the country could not put up any strong resistance against the action of the womenfolk and allowed themselves to be chased away, a group of blue-coloured camouflage clad personnel of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), a specialized unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), was seen standing nearby without doing anything other than watching the whole drama.

This episode has shown lack of coordination and support among the different units of Indian security forces deployed in the border town and their inability to do anything without clear-cut instructions from their respective commanders or higher up officials.

More importantly, this episode has raised question on the purpose and existence of the Unified Command in the strife-torn state.

On the other hand, the press note issued by Village Volunteers, Tengnoupal directing shopkeepers in the Evening Bazar area of Moreh to close their shops to state forces until deployment of state forces is withdrawal from the border town has once again reaffirmed the fear of armed Kuki-Chin militants losing control over the strategically and commercially important town, which they thought had been accomplished after Meitei/Meetei people were chased out following the outbreak of ethnic conflict on May 3 last year.

Knowing very well that the different units of Indian security forces deployed in Moreh, supposedly to coordinate with the state forces in flushing out militants, are not going to do anything to harm them even in the face of bloody confrontations with the state forces, Kuki-Chin militants have been encouraging denizens of Moreh to raise hue and cry against continued deployment of state forces, particularly the specialised units of Manipur Police Commandos, apart from launching persistent armed attacks that have so far claimed the lives of SDPO Moreh Chingtham Anandkumar and two other commando personnel and left nearly a dozen wounded.

Leaving aside the allegation of committing atrocities on the civilians in Moreh by the police commandos, which may or may not be true and thus need thorough investigation by a third party; one just has to recall the incidents of detection of 32 Myanmarese nationals from among 44 individuals detained for verification after a reinforcement of Special Commandos sent from Imphal following the killing of Moreh SDPO soon landed in the border town on November 1 last year as well as the startling revelation that the designated camps set up for housing armed cadres of Kuki militant groups under Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement signed with the government were found empty and abandoned during inspection carried out, to understand why the deployment of state forces, particularly the police commandos, in Moreh is being opposed and objected.

Of all the security forces present in Moreh today, Manipur police commandos are the only force that have been standing firmly to face the aggression of armed Kuki-Chin militants, and the latter knows this fact very well.