Fall in line or else, DGAR cautions IM men
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 06, 2012: Director General Assam Rifles (DGAR) Rameshwar Roy has categorically stated that NSCN-IM would be forced to abide by the ceasefire ground rules or their cadres would be arrested if they ever try to go astray and break the ground rules.

After interacting with students of Sainik School, Imphal today, the DG AR was answering a question put up by media persons.

He reminded that NSCN-IM and the Government of India have been observing ceasefire under certain conditions and there are certain ground rules which both the parties should strictly follow.

"If they do not abide by the ground rules, we would force them to follow the ground rules", Rameshwar Roy stated.

"Our task is to see that they abide by the ceasefire ground rules.

If any of their cadres are breaking the ground rules, we would nab them, confiscate their weapons and hand them over to police", he said.

Assam Rifles cannot take up any action directly against NSCN-IM apart from retaliation in the event of attack by the group.

Notably, at least five polling personnel, one CRPF man and one NSCN-IM cadre were killed when the militant outfit attacked Tampi polling station in Chandel AC during polling for the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly election on January 28. This was followed by open acknowledgement by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram about violation of ceasefire ground rules by NSCN-IM.

To another query, the DG AR stated that the Assam Rifles has been guarding the 1631 Kms long Indo-Myanmar border besides carrying out counter insurgency operations.

However, due to bad road roads and inadequate infrastructure, Assam Rifles have not been able to move closer to the international boundary.

He also mentioned about arrest of many Myanmarese nationals by AR in the past few months.

Commenting on the security situation of Manipur, Rameshwar Roy claimed that no insurgent outfit based in Manipur has the capacity to carry out their activities by themselves.

"What these outfits have been doing are shooting and killing people at unguarded moments and then fleeing away to their hide-outs.

Anybody can carry out such activities", the DG AR stated.

The recent Manipur Legislative Assembly election was by and large peaceful except for some minor disturbances, he remarked.

Earlier, the DG AR gave a lecture to the students of Sainik School, Imphal.

He motivated the students by elaborating on the roles of defence personnel in nation building, the difference between army and civilians, the sense of pride felt by army men etc.

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