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Vehicles in army camo, fake police IDs trigger alarm in Manipur
Manipur Police has warned against fake police IDs, while Assam Rifles have lodged a police complaint against people painting the same model of a pick-up truck in colours reserved for armed forces
The Manipur police and security agencies have issued alerts and warnings after a spurt in instances where ethnic-majority militants have used police uniforms, fake ID cards and pick-up trucks in military camouflage to move about the strife-torn region where curfews and barricades have now become widespread.
The Manipur Police on Friday warned against the circulation of fake IDs, while Assam Rifles have lodged a police complaint saying they have come across people buying the same model of a pick-up truck and having it painted in colours reserved for the armed forces.
The development comes amid protests over the arrest of five people on September 16 for possessing weapons and donning uniforms in camouflage. A special court on Friday granted them bail, a day after hordes of mobs surrounded police stations at several locations of the majority Meitei dominated Imphal valley.
The northeastern state has been in the throes of ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kukis for more than five months, with around 176 people having been killed and nearly 50,000 displaced.
On Friday, the Manipur Police took to X (formerly Twitter) to dismiss reports of police identity cards being issued to some cadres of militant groups from Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley.
“Manipur Police has not issued such a card. Necessary legal action will be initiated,” the police posted on its official Facebook and X pages.
An officer familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that such cards could have been produced by militants to move around masquerading as policemen.
Senior security officials said that one of the key motifs of the violence that have plagued Manipur for the past five months is attacks on state armories and police stations by large mobs that have led to large-scale looting arms and ammunition. Government data shows that at least 5,668 arms have gone missing, of which 1,329 have been recovered thus far.
What is less spoken about, and difficult to quantify, one of the officials said, is the number of police uniforms that have gone missing.
On September 18, Assam Rifles, one of the security agencies deployed in Manipur, wrote a letter to the Churachandpur district superintendent of police alleging that civilian vehicles painted in colours used by the armed forces were spotted in Meitei-dominated Kakching district.
“It is reliably learnt that few Meitei miscreants with the help of VBIGs (valley based insurgent groups) have acquired many used TATA 407 from civil market and have converted them to resemble like the TATA 407 vehicles being used by Assam Rifles by painting and putting the Assam Rifles insignia,” said the letter, seen by HT.
“Conversion of civil vehicle to lookalike of Assam Rifles vehicle clearly shows the nefarious intention of VBIGs to tarnish the image of Assam Rifles or to utilize the same vehicle for anti-national activities,” it added.
Attempts to get reactions from both Churachandpur and Kakching police on what action was initiated following the Assam Rifles letter went unanswered.
Meanwhile, the Manipur government on Friday appealed to surrender all illegal weapons held by any person or groups across the state within a period of 15 days from September 22, according to a press release.
In a press release issued here on Friday evening, it said that the state government is willing to take a considerate view for the persons submitting such illegal weapons within these 15 days.
“At the end of the 15 days, security forces,both the central and state will undertake a strong and comprehensive search operation all over the state to recover such weapons, and all persons associated with any illegal weapons will be dealt with severely, as per law,” the release said.
