The Assam Rifles has written to the Manipur police alerting the latter that “few Meitei miscreants” may use refurbished civilian trucks, which resemble vehicles used by the paramilitary force, for “anti-national activities” to tarnish the reputation of the security force.
The letter sent by the Assam Rifles on September 18 to the Churachandpur Superintendent of Police said that it was reliably learnt that “few Meitei miscreants with the help of VBIGs [valley based insurgent groups] have acquired many used TATA 407 (mini trucks) from civil market and have converted them to resemble the vehicles being used by the Assam Rifles by painting and putting the AR insignia.”
It said the vehicles are learnt to be located in the Kakching area, a valley district.
The letter added that camouflaging the civilian vehicles to make them appear as that of AR clearly shows “the nefarious intention of VBIGs to tarnish the image of Assam Rifles or to utilise the same vehicle for anti-national activities.”
Withdrawal demanded
Several Meitei groups, including BJP legislators, have demanded the withdrawal of AR from the buffer areas, where Kuki and Meitei settlements are adjacent to each other, alleging bias towards Kuki-Zo people. On August 7, the BJP State leadership submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the “Assam Rifles has been charged by the public for their biased role in tackling the situation by favouring and supporting one side only.”
The misuse of camouflaged and police uniforms has been repeatedly flagged by the Manipur police.
On September 16, the Manipur police said there had been “reports of extortion threats, misuse of police uniform and impersonation by armed miscreants.”
Police have been making efforts to curb the same and during one such operation they arrested five persons with sophisticated weapons in camouflage uniform. Following the arrest, widespread protest erupted in the Meitei-dominated valley districts demanding the release of the five armed men. For the past one week, all the valley districts have witnessed complete shutdown and agitation in support of the five armed men who have been referred to as “village defence volunteers” by the civil society groups. On Friday, all the five men who were booked under the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA, were granted bail.
As reported by The Hindu on September 10, armed men in police uniforms are a constant challenge for the Central security forces in violence-hit Manipur. There have been several instances when men carrying automatic weapons were found firing at the Central security forces deployed in the buffer zones, preceded by blockade and protest by women-led groups.
Earlier on July 10, the AR had registered a criminal case against COCOMI, an influential Meitei civil society organisation, after the outfit gave a call to people “not to surrender weapons.” More than 4,000 weapons have been looted from police armouries since May 3 when ethnic violence between the tribal Kuki-Zo and Meitei people erupted in Manipur.
On August 18, the oldest paramilitary force in the country sent a legal notice to Maheshwar Thounaojam, national secretary of the Republican Party of India (RPI-Athawale), for causing “considerable harm to the reputation and standing of the organisation in the public eye.” It said the notice is being served for tarnishing the reputation and “discouraging and demoralising” the Central armed police force.
