ITBP or Assam Rifles may be deployed to man border with Myanmar

[Hindustani78]

Last Updated: Saturday, June 27, 2015 - 19:42
ITBP or Assam Rifles may be deployed to man border with Myanmar | Zee News

New Delhi: In the wake of the killing of 18 Armymen in Manipur, government plans to deploy either Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) or Assam Rifles for manning the 389-km-long Indo-Myanmar border in the state.

Talking about recent breakdown of ceasefire with Naga insurgent group NSCN-K, highly-placed sources in the Home Ministry said that there are "external angles to it as well."

The remarks came in response to a question whether Pakistan's ISI has got active in the area and influenced the Khaplang faction of NSCN into withdrawing from the ceasefire agreement with the Centre.

The ceasefire had never been followed up by dialogue, following cessation of armed clashes because of "compulsions" of NSCN-K group, the sources said.

The sources said that government is now planning to place NSCN-K under the banned list of terrorist organisation after the June four killing of 18 Armymen in Chandel area of Manipur.

Referring to recent visit of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to Myanmar, the sources said he had been assured by Myanmarese side that its soil will not be used for any anti-India activities.

They said there was a need for augmenting forces along the Indo-Myanmar border in Manipur and a committee, which will look into the issue, had been formed.

The committee is expected to give its report next week and there was a possibility that the manning of the border will either be entrusted to ITBP, border guarding force along Sino-India border, or Assam Rifles.

The sources said Myanmarese army has come closer to the Indian border in a bid to choke the supply route of insurgents after surgical strikes by Indian forces earlier this month.

The presence of Myanmmar's forces has helped increase vigil along the border with Indian forces already keeping a hawk's eye on the movement of insurgents in hilly areas, they said.

The coming of the two forces closer to each other on either side of the border will also increase the understanding between them which will further facilitate smooth carrying out of operations against the insurgents, they said.

In an attack claimed to be surgical strikes, Indian army commandos had hit two camps of insurgents at two locations along Nagaland and Manipur borders with Myanmmar, inflicting serious damage on insurgents.

However, there was no clarity on the number of insurgents killed in the attack carried out by the army.

NSCN(K), which reneged from a ceasefire in March, has been involved in a series of attacks in tandem with some other militant groups under the banner of 'United Liberation Front of South East Asia'.

PTI

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...rvicemen-seek-better-deal/article19933377.ece

Urge Centre to stop ‘dual control’ of the force

The Assam Rifles Ex-Servicemen Welfare Association-All India (AREWA-AI) has called upon the Centre to bring to an end what it calls ‘dual control’ of the force and provide its personnel post-retirement benefits on par with the Army on the basis of equal pay for equal work principle.

Speaking at a press conference here on Friday, association patron-in-chief Major General (Retd.) V.S. Karmic said the association had been demanding that the Central government free the Assam Rifles (AR) from the dual control of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Defence.

Exuding the confidence that a decision in this regard was likely to be taken by the Central government shortly, he said that if the government failed to take a decision within this month, the association would file a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court or High Court of Delhi in the first week of next month.

The association was raising the demand that AR retired personnel should also get One Rank One Pension (OROP) and other post-retirement benefits on par with the Army.

Noting that AR, the oldest paramilitary force of the country, had a history of 182 years, Maj. Gen (Retd.) Karmic said the force now had 46 battalions with a strength of 70,000. Today it is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the operational control of the Army, he pointed out.

Its personnel had taken part in both the World Wars and also participated in various counter-insurgency operations under the Army, he said adding that a contingent of the force was currently on a United Nations peace-keeping mission in Haiti.

Despite these services, AR personnel did not get proper peace stations as authorised for the Army battalions, he said. Even Central police forces were moved to peace station after three years in field areas, he said.

He said that despite being jawans of frontline force, AR personnel were not treated as Central civil servants and did not get post-retirement benefits that defence ex-service personnel were entitled to get. That was why majority of AR jawans took voluntary premature retirement, he said.

The AREWA-AI’s annual general meeting and national executive conference would be held here on October 28, association functionaries said. The function would be attended by association founder and general secretary Subedar (Retd.) V. Tulsi Nair and president Commandant (Retd.) L.S. Yadav, they said.