Kuki MLAs urge PM Modi to not remove Assam Rifles from Manipur

Imphal: Ten Kuki-Zo-Hmar tribal MLAs from Manipur who are demanding a separate administration have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to not remove the Assam Rifles from the violence-hit state.

In a memorandum submitted to the PMO on Thursday, they 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 also urged PM 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.

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.