A New Low In Manipur: Police Files FIR Against Assam Rifles For ‘Obstructing Duties’

After deep ethnic divisions, it is the acute differences and even hostility between security forces that has now spilled into the open. 

The Manipur Police has filed an FIR (first information report) against the 9th Battalion of the Assam Rifles accusing the paramilitary force of obstructing it from pursuing militants who attacked and killed three people at Kwakta in Bishnupur district early on Saturday (5 August) morning. 

Kuki militants had raided a Meitei-inhabited village in the area that falls in the ‘buffer zone’ between the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley and the Kuki-dominated hills surrounding the Valley. 

The Kuki militants had shot dead three men, including a father-son duo, and mutilated their bodies, sparking outrage and angry protests by Meiteis. 

As per the security protocol drawn up by the ‘unified command’ (of state police, Indian Army, Assam Rifles and central forces), the army and Assam Rifles are responsible for ensuring security in the ‘buffer zone’. 

The unified command is headed by former Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Director General Kuldiep Singh who was appointed security advisor to the Manipur government in May this year soon after violence erupted in the state.

Following the massacre at Kwakta early on Saturday morning, a Manipur Police team led by the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Bishnupur district wanted to go to Kwakta and launch an operation to flush out the Kuki militants. 

However, the police team ran into an armoured vehicle of the 9 Assam Rifles that had been parked in the middle of the Kwakta-Pholjang Road to stop all vehicular movement on that road. 

The Assam Rifles team present there did not heed repeated requests to move the armoured vehicle and allow the police team to pass. 

This led to heated arguments between the two security forces with the police accusing the Assam Rifles of protecting the Kuki militants and a junior Assam Rifles officer firmly stating that they were only doing their duty. 

A video of this skirmish between the two forces that exposed the deep fault lines in the state security apparatus went viral, fuelling anger among Meiteis who staged protests against the Assam Rifles over the weekend at various places in Imphal Valley. 

Following those protests, the Assam Rifles was withdrawn from a key checkpoint in Bishnupur district and the state police given the sole responsibility for manning that checkpost. 

Eight checkpoints have been set up in the valley districts to prevent movement of armed militias or terror groups. Three of those are manned by the army, two by the Assam Rifles and two by the state police. 

The state police have often complained that the Assam Rifles prevents it from going into areas that fall under the paramilitary force’s jurisdiction. Those areas are mostly in the Kuki-dominated hill districts. 

There is a widespread perception among the Meiteis that the Assam Rifles is soft on Kuki militants and has been turning a blind eye to the depredations of Kuki militants and armed Kuki men. 

A number of Meitei MLAs wrote to the Union government last month seeking withdrawal of the Assam Rifles from the state. 

However, the Kukis who distrust the state police that are dominated by Meiteis, are favourably inclined towards the paramilitary force. The Kukis accuse the state police of being partisan and aiding attacks by the Meiteis on Kukis. 

The FIR (by the police against the Assam Rifles) was lodged under sections relating to obstructing a public servant from discharging duty, threat of injury to public servant, assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging duty, and criminal intimidation.

The FIR, filed by the officer-in-charge of Phougakchao Ikhai Police Station, sub-inspector N Devdas Singh, states: “On reaching the Kutub Wali Masjid located at Kwakta ward 8 along Pholjang road, the state police teams were stopped, and their way was blocked by the personnel of the 9 Assam Rifles by keeping and parking their Casper (armoured) vehicle in middle of the Kwakta Pholjang road.... As such, the arrogant act of the personnel of 9th Assam Rifles gave a chance to the accused Kuki militants to escape freely to somewhere that is a free zone for them”. 

The FIR says that the obstruction put up by the Assam Rifles helped the (Kuki) militants escape to their safe havens in the hills. 

“The Assam Rifles acted beyond its mandate and obstructing the police amounted to challenging the authority of the state government. That is unpardonable and calls for strong action against the Assam Rifles personnel who parked the armoured vehicle in the middle of the road to obstruct vehicular movement. They refused to heed requests by the police, including a senior police officer, to move the vehicle and allow the police team to pass. We will ensure that strong disciplinary action is taken against them,” said an Inspector General of Manipur Police. 

The army rubbished the police’s allegations. In a late Tuesday night tweet, the army’s 3 Corps (also called the ‘Spear Corps) that oversees army operations in Nagaland, Manipur and eastern Arunachal Pradesh decried the “fabricated attempts to malign the Assam Rifles”. 

The army explained that the Assam Rifles “acted strictly in accordance with the mandate of the Unified Command for strict enforcement of buffer zone guidelines towards the aim of preventing violence between the two communities”. 

A senior army officer posted at the 57 Mountain Division HQs at Leimakhong near Imphal told Swarajya that the mandate of the different forces is very clear. 

“The Assam Rifles and the army will exclusively patrol and provide security to areas marked as ‘buffer zones’ that fall between the Imphal Valley and the hill districts. These ‘buffer zones’ have a mixed population and the Manipur Police has been deliberately kept away from these zones because the Kukis have no faith in the police and distrust them acutely. The army and Assam Rifles are neutral forces,” said the officer. 

The Assam Rifles, which draws most of its officers from the army (army officers go on mandatory deputation to the Assam Rifles, as well as Rashtriya Rifles), also rejects the allegations of bias levelled against it. 

“We are completely neutral and reject all allegations against us by people who are themselves deeply biased and partisan. We are doing our duty very diligently under very trying circumstances,” an Assam Rifles sector commander (a brigadier-rank officer) told Swarajya. 

“The protocol laid down by the Unified Command is very clear. The state police have no role to play in buffer zones. If any operation is to be carried out, we (Assam Rifles and army) will do it. The police cannot enter any buffer zone,” he added. 

Assam Rifles and army officers privately say that the state police have openly displayed their bias by looking the other way when Meiteis attacked Kukis. 

The police even stands accused of looking the other way during attacks on Kukis, allowing their armouries to be looted, and turning a blind eye to some radical outfits (the Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun) which openly call for ethnic cleansing of Kukis. Hence, the police are not trusted at all by the Kukis. 

“If we are given a task, we will do it. Our task is to patrol the buffer zones exclusively and we shall do it, come what may,” the sector commander said. 

Other senior Assam Rifles officers that Swarajya spoke to explained that the Assam Rifles has prevented ethnic clashes in the areas under its jurisdiction, especially in the hills. 

“Even on Saturday, after the killings of the three men, we launched operations immediately. We are a trained counter-insurgency force and are much more effective than the state police,” an Assam Rifles commandant (of a battalion) said. 

The deep fault lines within the state security apparatus, however, can affect the functioning of the forces. 

Army and Assam Rifles authorities told Swarajya that they have taken up Saturday’s faceoff between the Assam Rifles and the police, and the FIR lodged against the Assam Rifles, with the security advisor and also the Union government. 

The army and Assam Rifles officers say that clear instructions need to be given to the state police to act within its mandate and not overstep its brief. 

Also read: Cycle Of Killings And Counter-Killings Resumes In Manipur, Darker Days Ahead For State