Centre to deploy 20 more CAPF companies to violence-hit Manipur

Amid the escalating violence, the Centre has decided to provide an additional 20 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) to deal with the prevailing law and order situation, an Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official said.

A top Manipur Home Department official said that the 20 companies of CAPF (around 1,700 to 1,800 personnel) would soon arrive in the state and they would be deployed in militancy-infested districts.

According to the MHA statement, accessed by IANS, to Manipur Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, and Director General of Police, informed that of the 20 companies of CAPF, 15 will be CRPF and five of the BSF.

"The CRPF would rush to Manipur from Assam while BSF would go to Manipur from Tripura," the MHA said in a statement.

It requested the state government to work out the detailed deployment plan, in consultation with the respective CAPFs.

It also added that with the deployment of an additional 20 companies of CAPFs, a total of 218 companies of CAPFs, comprising CRPF, RAF, BSF, ITBP, and SSB would be available with the Manipur government.

The Manipur Home Department official said that the MHA's decision to deploy additional CAPF in Manipur comes within three days after an encounter on Monday between suspected Kuki militants and the CRPF in the Jiribam district.

Police said that after Monday's incident, 10 people were either kidnapped or missing.

The Inspector General of Police (Operations), Manipur, I.K. Muivah, said that during the search operations after the incident in Jakuradhor village, where several houses were also burnt down by the armed militants, two bodies of elderly civilians -- Maibam Kesho Singh (75) and Laishram Barel (61) -- were found.

The victims and the missing persons are inmates of a relief camp set up in the village for the violence-hit people.

The IGP said another person was found alive and rescued and another civilian came back on his own to the police station.

At present, three women and three children are missing and search operations are underway to find them.

Muivah said that on Monday (November 11), 10 militants were killed in the encounter with the CRPF.

However, police officials earlier had put the toll at 11.

All tribal organisations in Manipur, including the Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), Kuki-Zo Council, and Hmar Students' Association have been claiming that all the 11 are Hmar village volunteers.

Meanwhile, after the ethnic violence broke out in Manipur in May last year, the Central government deployed around 60,000 forces comprising the Army, the Assam Rifles, and various CAPF.