HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Aug 10: Ten Kuki-Zo-Hmar tribal MLAs from
Manipur in a memorandum to the PM urged not to remove
Assam Rifles from the state.
They have been demanding a separate administration and also
sought the PM for his personal intervention in the quick
resolution of the ethnic strife in Manipur at the earliest.
In the 60-member Manipur Legislative Assembly, there are 10
Kuki-Zo-Hmar tribal MLAs. They are demanding separate
administration – the Kukiland.
In the memorandum, the elected tribal representatives pray to
the PM not to remove the AR from Manipur as it ‘would harm
and jeopardize the safety and security of the tribals’.
They also urged PM for directions to control the state forces,
curtail their powers and give direction to not violate the buffer
zones manned by the central paramilitary forces for the
restoration of peace in the state in the public interest.
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Since the outbreak of ethnic strife in Manipur on May 3, the
unabated violence has led to deep mistrust between the Kuki-
Zo-Hmar tribals and Meitei communities which has been
reflected in the splitting of local state administration and law
enforcing agencies too, the elected representatives state.
The Manipur state police have now started removing the AR
posts from key areas and also started lodging false and
fabricated FIRs against the AR to hinder/pressurize them from
doing their duties, they added.
The Assam Rifles have the majority of their troops from the
northeastern states of India and they have been guarding
Manipur for very long, hence they are aware of the local
dynamics.
They state that the credibility of the Assam Rifles (AR), the
oldest security forces protecting our Motherland India
internally and externally since its establishment, pre, and post-
independence is known to everyone.
Meanwhile, the BJP leaders and its elected representatives
pressed the PM for the early removal of the AR from Manipur.
Over 160 persons lost their lives in the ethnic violence between
the Kukis and Meiteis that erupted on May 3.
