New Delhi: The central security and defence establishment is peeved at the registration of an FIR against the Assam Rifles by the Manipur Police at a time when the armed forces are trying to keep violence at bay despite multiple challenges on the ground, ThePrint has learnt.
Sources in the defence and security establishment said efforts are on to cancel the FIR lodged by the Manipur Police which itself has been divided on ethnic lines of Meitei and Kuki cops, as reported by ThePrint.
“The FIR has been a mistake and is likely to be cancelled,” a source said, adding that the higher authorities in the police are seized of the matter.
The defence sources cited that there are a number of challenges confronting the Army and the Assam Rifles to quell violence in a complex, volatile and charged atmosphere, especially the lack of legal protection – Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).
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What transpired between Assam Rifles & Manipur police
Sources said that while there has been tensions between the various groups of Manipur Police and the Assam Rifles besides the Army itself, the latest is of an incident dated 5 August.
Manipur Police have accused the Assam Rifles of helping out “Kuki militants” to “escape freely to a safe zone” during an ongoing combing operation.
The FIR states that a police team was proceeding towards Pholjang road along Kwakta ward number 8 as a follow up action in an a case of Arms Act for conducting a search operation to “trace the accused Kuki militants that might have been taking shelter at Kwakta ward number 8”, when they were obstructed by personnel of the Assam Rifles, the FIR says.
The sources explained that what transpired on the ground was a group of policemen wanting to cross the buffer zone created by the central forces.
Buffer zones are those sensitive areas which saw clashes and in order to keep communities at a distance, central security forces are deployed in these areas, they said, adding these are not fenced borders like Line of Control or the International Border that people cannot sneak in easily.
It’s just that two communities are staying in respective areas (in open terrain) in close proximity, the sources said, adding that there is a coordinated deployment in the buffer zone as decided by the Unified Command structure.
No force can unilaterally breach the deployment to rush towards hills or valleys without coordination when firing is on since there can be casualties, they said, explaining why a group of Manipur police was stopped from entering the other side.
Lack of legal protection hampers Army, Assam Rifles
The sources added that the Army and the Assam Rifles were deployed for “aid to civil authority” in maintenance of public order and that the central forces have actually done more than that despite lacking the legal protection of AFSPA.
They said that the creation of buffer zones and de-arming of civilians in a calibrated manner is more than what the Army and the Assam Rifles have been mandated for.
“Naturally, the AFSPA will allow the central security forces to operate freely and proactively carry out operations in a civilian area,” a source said when asked whether AFSPA will allow them to operate the way they want to.
Most of the villages in the Imphal Valley for operations are literally a no go area for the Army because they are not classified as “disturbed areas” since AFSPA there has been lifted, they said.
Most attacks, as reported by ThePrint, are being launched by Meitei insurgent groups from denotified areas that are no longer considered disturbed. Of the 92 police stations in Manipur, the AFSPA has been removed from 19 stations across seven districts.
The sources explained that nearly 4,000 weapons including some high calibre weapons and ammunition were looted from police stations, mostly in Meitei dominated areas, when the violence first started early May.
Looted LMGs, AK-47, INSAS Rifles, 7.62mm SLRs, rocket launchers & 51mm mortars are readily available with the miscreants in the society at large, in a charged up atmosphere, they said. Subsequent violence corroborates this fact.
Sources said that because of the division in Manipur Police, credibility of the local police, and by extension of the governance, has taken a hit and hence the burden of maintaining law and order on the ground fell on the Assam Rifles.
They explained that in this age of information warfare, Manipur has seen large scale disinformation campaigns from all the parties involved in the conflict.
Disinformation campaigns from both sides have blamed the Indian Army for biased actions, sometimes in the same area. This, in itself, underscores the neutrality of the Indian Army while exposing the motivated narratives, the sources said.
On Tuesday, the Army tweeted its side of the Manipur operations including the one related to the FIR.
(Edited by Tony Rai)