Lamka, June 19 2009: Decrying the Cabinet decision to deploy commandos in the four hill districts including Churachandpur, Churachandpur District Stuents' Union today raised their objection against the decision and urged Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh to consider other priorities other than militarization.

In a memorandum to the Chief Minister the student body today said that the district remains comparatively peaceful ever since the signing of SoO with the armed groups based in the district.

Not only was the volatile inter-tribal tension under control, the law and order situation has also improved ever since, it claimed.

"Such hard-earned peace and tranquility will be shattered by the presence of more IRB and Manipur police commandos in the district since they have already lost public faith and have dubious records in valley areas of the State," it added.

Further alleging that rationality and reasoning have lost its meaning wherever commandos are deployed, the union recalled the unfortunate incident in the district where agitated students, when provoked by the police commandos attacked and burnt the police station.

To supplement their claim paper clippings of the two most dominant newspapers in the State were referred to.

Clips of The Sangai Express and Imphal Free Press were appended for references on the memo.

These clippings were to validate that fake encounters, extra-judicial killings, unnecessary harassments of innocent citizens, rampant abuses of the dignity and rights of the citizens and unwarranted arrest had already been the hallmark of the police commandos, said a source.

Giving a professional blow on the cabinet decision bit-by-bit, the union argues that deployment of more IRB and Manipur Police Commandos in the district will instead result in more human rights violations and the contravention of the rule of law.

"To put it in simple terms, don't stained the unstained parts of the State with State sponsored trigger-happy IRB and Police Commandos," said a student leader when asked for his comment on the memo.

Militarization and use of forces are never an answer to the socio-economic, developmental and democratic deficit conditions prevailing in the hill areas of Manipur.

The Government's failure to activate administrative services at the sub-divisional headquarters and defunct police outposts at Parbung, Singngat, Henglep and Thanlon sub divisional headquarters since 1997 due to the lack of infrastructure clearly shows what could have been the priority of the Government in other areas other than militarization, stated the union.

In view of all the facts it has affirmed, the CDSU today appealed on the Chief Minister to review the Cabinet decision, and threatened that the student community in the entire hill district shall resort to any appropriate actions necessary if the Government fails to do so.

Meanwhile, many 1st IRB personnel have express their reservation on the verbal instruction they receive from the officers to open their bank account, as was required by the government, only at UBI main branch in Imphal.

The instruction we receive were not in a written form, unlike the earlier instructions to do so in any nationalized banks with core banking facilities, but an instruction we can not avoid, said a band of the personnel today but appeal for concealing their identities.

If we are to be given only one option, why not in Churachandpur where we are located, instead of Imphal.

The entire exercise will only bestow us an entirely new dilemma.

It will be better to follow the old pattern, and if that is not possible authorities should reflect on our woes and consider any of the two banks located here, they said.

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