Manipur: 10 Kuki MLAs urge govt not to withdraw Assam Rifles from hill areas
Kuki MLAs urged the Prime Minister and Home Minister separately not to withdraw two battalions of Assam Rifles from the Kuki-Zo-Hmar inhabited tribal areas.
The ten tribal MLAs, including two ministers — Nemcha Kipgen and Letpao Haokip – in separate memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah said that it is pertinent to cite that the un-biased service of the Assam Rifles in the fringe areas has been obviously instrumental in prevention of further escalation of violence till date.
“The role played by Assam Rifles so far in maintenance of law and order is absolutely neutral,” the legislators said in their Friday’s memorandum, released to the media on Saturday.
They claimed that withdrawal of two battalions of the Assam Rifles from their current sensitive deployment at Kangvai and Kangpokpi are being done following pressure from the state government.
The MLAs said: “To maintain the current status-quo particularly in the buffer-zones separating the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities, the undaunted and unbiased presence of the Assam Rifles is highly indispensable at this stage.”
Of the 10 tribal MLAs, seven are from the ruling BJP, two belong to the Kuki People’s Alliance and one is an Independent.
Citing insecurity in Imphal, these legislators have been boycotting the Manipur assembly sessions, including the ongoing budget session, since the ethnic violence broke out in the northeastern state in May last year.
Earlier, many Kuki-Zo-Hmar tribal organisations including Indigenous Tribal
