Manipur Ground Report: The Tough Task That Faces The Indian Army And Assam Rifles

The violence at Haraothel and neighbouring villages in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district throughout Thursday (29 June) has once again brought into focus, the thankless and tough task that the Indian Army and the paramilitary Assam Rifles are faced with.

The violence was triggered by Meitei militias moving towards the Kuki-inhabited Haraothel village, about 21 kilometre northwest of state capital Imphal, in the wee hours of Thursday (29 June). 

The Meiteis, armed with INSAS rifles and other weapons they had looted from police armouries earlier, approached the village through a forest towards the west of the village.

Haraothel is, in fact, surrounded by forests on all sides and is accessible only through the Haraothel Tangnuam Forest Road that enters the village from the northeast. 

Once the Meiteis reached the edge of the forest, they started firing indiscriminately. Residents of the village woke up to the sounds of gunfire and quickly organised themselves to resist the Meitei attackers. 

An Assam Rifles platoon that was deployed near the village swung into action and rushed towards the village. But the Meitei militias started firing at the Assam Rifles soldiers. 

“Our men resorted to controlled firing in a calibrated manner. They could not fire blindly because there were innocent and unarmed villagers and our men have strict instructions to avoid collateral damage at all costs,” a senior officer posted at the headquarters of the Inspector General of Assam Rifles (South), or IGAR (South), at Mantripukhri in Imphal told Swarajya. 

IGAR (South), a division-level formation of the Assam Rifles that draws its top officers from the Indian Army, commands the operations of the paramilitary force in Manipur. 

The gunbattle between the Meiteis — it is suspected that the armed miscreants belonged to the Meitei supremacist militias Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun — raged on for a few hours and left two Meiteis attackers dead and two injured. 

The dead were identified as Nilakamal Boicha Singh and Konsam Herojit Singh while the injured are Yumnam Heramani Singh and Loitongbam Milan Singh. 

The Assam Rifles troops were joined by Army soldiers from the headquarters of the 57 Mountain Division at Leimakhong, just about four kilometre north of Haraothel village. 

As news of the attack on Haraothel and the pushback by the Assam Rifles spread, agitated Meiteis started streaming into the area from the Imphal East and West districts from late morning. Haraothel lies in the fringe of Imphal Valley. 

The mob, led once again by Meitei women, tried to stop the Army and Assam Rifles soldiers from carrying out combing operations to drive away armed Meitei militias hiding in the forests. 

“As the buildup of Meiteis in areas adjacent to Haraothel continued, we opened lines of communication with local leaders and some elderly people in the mob. They were told that obstructing security forces from acting against militants and miscreats was illegal and would invite strong retaliation,” a senior Army officer stationed at Leimakhong told Swarajya. 

After a couple of hours of talks, the Meitei mobs started dispersing.

“This time, we tackled the situation very politely but firmly. People in the mob were told that we have taken videos of their resistance and all of them would be identified and taken into custody. They were told they would not be spared. They got the message,” the officer added. 

But taking advantage of the distraction created by the Meitei mobs, and the preoccupation of Army and Assam Rifles officers dealing with the mob, more armed Meiteis gathered in the forests. 

At around 4pm, the Meitei militias targeted K Munlai, another Kuki-inhabited village less than a kilometre north of Haraothel. The Army and Assam Rifles troops responded immediately and engaged with the militants. 

Around 5.15pm, another group of Meitei militants started firing at Bethel, yet another Kuki-inhabited village about 3 kilometre south of Haraothel. Bethel lies just 2 kilometre south of the National Sports University at Chirang in Kangpokpi district. 

The attacks on K Munlai and Bethel were also thwarted by the security forces. But the gunbattle between Meitei militants and security forces continued well into the night.

The Meitei militants resumed their firing on Haraothel as well, even as Army and Assam Rifles were conducting area domination exercises. 

Around 8pm, a police team that had gone to Haraothel to collect evidence of that morning’s attack by Meitei militants on the village and the gunbattle that followed came under fire from the militants. A bullet hit head constable Lenglem Dimngel who died on the spot. 

“Thursday’s gunbattles show that the Meitei militants are not shying away from engaging with security forces. They are armed with sophisticated weapons that they have looted from the police and that has raised their confidence levels,” said the Assam Rifles officer. 

What he left unsaid was that these militants belonging to the Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun enjoy the patronage of some powerful sections of Meitei society, including some politicians, a clutch of senior police officers and large sections of Meitei civil society. 

This support and patronage is what emboldens the Meitei militias to engage with Army and Assam Rifles soldiers.

“They (the militants) know they enjoy immunity from the law and will be bailed out even if they are caught. They also know that the powerful Meira Paibis (organised groups of Meitei women) will come to their rescue and will organise mass protests in their support,” a senior Manipur-cadre IPS officer who, however, does not belong to Manipur told Swarajya. 

The absence of any strong action so far to recover arms looted from police armouries has also emboldened the Meitei militants. 

“In no other state would such looting have been tolerated. An immediate operation would have been launched to recover the looted arms, arrest the looters and slap very serious charges on them. Very strong action would also have been taken on police officers and men who allowed the loot and did not resist the mobs. But none of that happened,” said the Assam Rifles officer. 

No action, except for meek appeals to return the arms, was taken. “It is no rocket science that the political leadership of the state did not want the looted arms to be recovered and strong coercive action to be taken against those who looted the arms and policemen who allowed the loot. That translates into direct patronage of the militants who looted the arms or got the looted arms in their hands,” a retired bureaucrat who is a Naga and is now settled in Ukhrul told Swarajya. 

The abject handover of 12 Meitei terrorists belonging to the proscribed Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) terror group, who were captured by the army at Itham village in Imphal West district last Saturday (24 June), had also emboldened the Meitei militants and terrorists. 

A large mob of women surrounded the Army soldiers and forced them to hand over the captured terrorists. One of the terrorists — self styled ‘lieutenant colonel’ Moirangthem Tamba — masterminded the ambush on a convoy of soldiers belonging to the 6 Dogra Regiment at Chandel (Manipur) on 4 June 2015, that killed 18 soldiers and seriously injured many more. 

The news of the deaths of the two Meitei militants who had gone to attack the Haraothel village Thursday (29 June) morning led to furious mobs, primarily women, staging angry protests throughout the day in Imphal. Police had to fire tear gas canisters to disperse the mobs at some places. 

Another flare-up occurred late Thursday evening when the body of one militant killed in the gunfight with security forces in the outskirts of Haraothel, reached his house near the Khwairamband Bazar in the heart of Imphal. 

That led to tempers rising and a large mob of incensed Meiteis decided to march to the Chief Minister’s residence at Babupara, less than 1.5 kilometre away, with the body.

Efforts to persuade the mob to allow the body to be cremated and desist from their march by police officers failed. Soon after midnight, young men from different localities of the state capital started congregating at Khwairamband Bazar.

They started marching towards Babupara, but were stopped by the police. The mobs then vented their anger on the BJP state headquarters which is barely 700 metre away from the Chief Minister’s residence. 

The police fired tear gas to disperse the riotous mobs. But the BJP office was ransacked and parts of it were set on fire. 

Thursday’s incidents brought to the fore these facts:

One, the Army and Assam Rifles are having to operate with one hand tied to their backs.

That’s because they have been tasked to operate in heavily populated areas and deal with militants armed with sophisticated weapons but avoid any civilian casualties. 

Two, the Army and Assam Rifles soldiers get easily demoralised by incidents like what happened at Itham Saturday (24 June) when they were forced to hand over captured terrorists to civilian mobs. 

The soldiers’ inability to act against such mobs which aid the terrorists and militants and prevent the security forces from carrying out operations is very frustrating and affects the morale of the soldiers.

Three, the Army and Assam Rifles are operating in a very hostile environment with Meiteis, including Meitei politicians, police officers, bureaucrats and civil society members, viewing the men in uniform with a lot of distrust.

The Meteis believe that it is only the Meitei militants and terror groups who can save them from the Kukis, and that the security forces favour the Kukis. 

Four, The efforts of the Army and Assam Rifles to raid hideouts of Meitei militants and terror groups to recover arms has been routinely frustrated by the civil administration. 

Powerful politicians and a section of the police obstruct such operations with the latter simply refusing to cooperate with the Army and Assam Rifles. 

Five, since the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, or AFSPA, has been withdrawn from the entire Imphal Valley, the Army no longer has that protective shield and is, thus, hamstrung. 

The Army, thus, cannot launch all-out operations against militants and terror groups in the Imphal Valley. And it cannot act on its own; it has to take assistance from the Manipur Police which is widely perceived to be biassed towards the Meiteis.

That is why Army officers have been telling the state administration that the present situation in the state needs a political solution and not a military one. Because a military solution is not possible without the armed forces being given a free hand. 

Also read:

• Manipur Strife: Intel Agencies Sound Alarm Over Links Between Meitei Terror Groups, Militias And Mobs

• Explained: Why Violence Continues To Wreck Manipur