CRPF to replace 2 battalions of Assam Rifles in Manipur

Guwahati: Two battalions of Assam Rifles are being replaced by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in two hill districts of Churachandpur and Kangpokpi in Manipur.

The move was, however, opposed by some Kuki groups who held a protest on Friday demanding not to replace the Assam Rifles.

Sources in the Manipur government said that around two battalions of Assam Rifles will be deployed in the Jammu region owing to recent spike in terror attacks. Assam Rifles has been hugely deployed in violence-hit Manipur since May 3 last year. Recently, Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh held a meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah "Jammu and Kashmir already has some units of Assam Rifles," sources said.


Sources added that CRPF was successful in bringing normalcy back to the Jiribam area which saw an increase in violence in June this year.

Last month, in a fresh incident, a CRPF jawan was killed and three other security personnel were injured when suspected militants ambushed a joint patrol party with the state police in Manipur's Jiribam district.

Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla had on July 28 said that the CRPF is seeing a "further increase" in its role in maintaining law and order in Manipur.

The Committee on Tribal Unity has opposed the potential removal of the Assam Rifles from the buffer zones between the hills inhabited by the Kuki-Zo community and the valley, predominantly occupied by the Meitei community and called for central intervention in Manipur. On the other hand, Coordinating

The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity, a Meitei organisation, has been demanding withdrawal of Assam Rifles from Manipur.