MHA deploys 10 additional CAPF companies in Manipur

 IMPHAL: As over three months of ethnic violence continued in Manipur, the Home Ministry has deployed 10 additional companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in the northeastern state, an official said here on Sunday.

A senior police officer said that 10 companies (around 900 personnel and some officers) of CAPF—CRPF, BSF, ITBP, and SSB—arrived here on Saturday night, and they would be deployed in different districts.

After the ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, the Defence Ministry and the Ministry of Home Affairs deployed over 40,000 Army, Assam Rifles, and various CAPF personnel.

Both the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an umbrella body of the Meitei community, and the leading tribal organizations—the Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) and Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM)—have been alleging that the state armed and police forces and a section of the central forces are playing partisan roles.

Meanwhile, some women's organisations have been creating obstacles to the independent operations of the security forces by frequently blocking the roads, delaying the movement of the security personnel.

Some television channels in the northeast have broadcast footage of women seeking the identity of CAPF personnel.

Meanwhile, the Manipur Police said in a statement that the security forces have so far recovered 1,195 looted arms and 14,322 different types of ammunition from across the state.

On August 3, in a fresh incident, a mob ransacked the Keirenphabi Police outpost and Thangalawai Police outposts of the Manipur Armed Police's 2nd Battalion in Bishnupur and took away a huge cache of arms and ammunition.

Reports said that the mob looted sophisticated weapons, including AK and 'Ghatak' series assault rifles, many self-loading rifles, and over 19,000 bullets of different calibres.

The mob, comprising men and women, also attempted to snatch arms and ammunition from Heingang police station and Singjamei police station in the same district, but security forces repelled them.

Director General of Manipur Police Rajiv Singh said that the police, under the supervision of an Inspector General of Police-level officer, have been undertaking a high-level probe into the looting of a large number of arms and ammunition from the two police outposts.

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