Replace AR with another force : COCOMI
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 25 2023:
The Assam Rifles has proven to be ineffective in guarding the porous borders and as such the entire force must be removed from Manipur, said COCOMI asking the Government to give a deadline for effecting the removal.
The people of the State have no faith in the Assam Rifles and their personnel and high ranking officers, on occasions, have been caught smuggling drugs prompting people to question their deployment in the State, said Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) in a statement today.
Explaining how the Assam Rifles had lost the trust of the people, COCOMI said the attempt of the Chin-Kuki people who have infiltrated into Manipur from Myanmar and Bangladesh's Chitagong Hill Tract to change Manipur's demography and their exertion in the State's polity had resulted in the present violence against indigenous people.
If only the Assam Rifles had done their job and detected the illegal immigrants, the current situation could have been avoided, it said.
The Assam Rifles has been here for many years guarding the porous border areas and the hills.
If they had detected the infiltrators inhabiting the hill areas and thwarted all attempts to illegally cross the border into Manipur, the demography could not have changed abnormally, said COCOMI.
It is known to the world that the main occupation and the works of the infiltrators from Myanmar are "poppy cultivation and to secure a safe corridor for smuggling drugs" .
Personnel of the Assam Rifles have been arrested for indulging in drug business in the past.
"One Colonel Burari of the Assam Rifles, personnel of AR and Manipur Police, Letming Haokip and Thangkhogin Haokip and 39th AR Commandant Jasjit Singh were arrested for smuggling drugs by Mizoram Police and Assam Police in the past.
As a result of this, the people had questioned if the Assam Rifles have ties with the illegal immigrant narco-terrorists," said COCOMI.
In the present crisis, people have expressed strong criticism against the AR, accusing the force of siding with the Kuki militants instead of protecting the villages and lives of the people when they were under attack by the narco-terrorists and National security was threatened.
The Government of India must have known this aspect of the AR more and as such, the force must be removed from the State.
The Centre should replace the AR with another Central force which will protect the National security, said COCOMI.
The trust deficit the people have for AR is an issue that the Centre and the State Government must discuss seriously.
The Government must remove the force and it should give a deadline to effect the removal, added COCOMI.
Further, private vehicles are being used for transportation of the Central forces amid the crisis.
In case, a confrontation breaks out between the womenfolk keeping vigil on the roads and the forces, a conflict may break out between the people/womenfolk and the transport agency/owners of the vehicles.
To avoid such a conflict within the members of the community, all transport agencies and owners of the vehicles should refuse their services.
They and their vehicles shouldn't transport the Central forces, COCOMI said.
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