SILCHAR (ASSAM/IMPHAL) — The Assam government, in view of the renewed violence in neighbouring Manipur, has further tightened security along the 204-km-long inter-state border, deploying police and commandos on a 24×7 basis in border districts, officials said on Sunday.
Assam’s Cachar (130.60 km) and Dima Hasao (73.5 km) districts share borders with ethnic violence-devastated Manipur.
A senior Assam Police official said that they stepped up security measures along the inter-state border to prevent the spillover of violence from the ethnic unrest in the neighbouring state.
Cachar’s Superintendent of Police Numal Mahatta has been closely overseeing the inter-state border security measures with daily inspections at the border.
“Given the current law and order situation in Jiribam district in Manipur, strict security arrangements have been executed to prevent unauthorised entry from Manipur into Cachar and to deter any potential sabotage that could exploit the unrest in Jiribam. Enhanced security measures have also been established along the riverine areas bordering Manipur, including the Jiri and Barak rivers,” the official told the media.
Mahatta said that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Director General of Police G.P. Singh have directed the Cachar police to take firm action against any attempts to disrupt peace in the district.
“We are committed to safeguarding Cachar from the ongoing chaos in Manipur,” he said.
“We have taken all necessary precautionary measures following the violent situation and ethnic strife in Jiribam. In far-flung and remote areas where there is no connectivity, Assam Police are patrolling there day and night. Manipur Police are assisting us. Commando battalion is pressed for duty.”
Cachar police, in a post on X, said: “Cachar Police conducted foot patrols, area domination and searches in Tupidhar along the Assam-Manipur border to prevent unauthorised entry and fostering regional stability through community engagement.”
“To combat rising tensions in Jiribam (Manipur), Cachar Police intensify security efforts along the Assam-Manipur border, conducting unwavering riverine patrols from Fulertal to Tupidhar along the Barak River,” it said in another post.
Largely unaffected in the 18-month-long ethnic riot in most parts of Manipur, mixed-population Jiribam witnessed a wave of violence after the killing of 59-year-old farmer Soibam Saratkumar Singh on June 6 this year.
The Jiribam violence in June led to around 1,500 people belonging to both Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities taking shelter at the homes of relatives and friends in two villages in the Cachar district.
Though most of the refugees subsequently returned to Jiribam, a few hundred Kuki-Zo-Hmar tribals still lived with their relatives in Cachar.
Manipur Police said that in the November 11 encounter with the CRPF in Jiribam, 10 Kuki militants were killed and the militants also kidnapped 10 people, all belonging to the Meitei community and inmates of a relief camp at Jakuradhor in Jiribam’s Borobekra sub-division.
Of the 10 abducted people, two were rescued alive and the bodies of eight other victims including three children and three women were found subsequently.