Manipur CM N Biren Singh at the passing out ceremony of the IRB recruits at Lachit Barphukan Police Academy.
Credit: X/@NBirenSingh
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Monday said he is planning to deploy nearly 2,000 newly recruited Indian Reserve police personnel together in order to bridge the ethnic divide between the Meiteis and Kukis, which widened since the conflict started in May last year.
"This tension between the two communities did not prevail earlier. It all started after this conflict. The newly recruited personnel lived together amid the conflict and got the training. We will not divide them and will be deployed together so that they can encourage the communities to bridge the distrust and the divide," Singh said when asked during an interaction with journalists in Assam's Golaghat district, during the pass out event of the battalions.
As the violence broke out, a total of 1,984 personnel were sent to the Lachit Borphukan Police Training Academy at Dergaon in Golaghat.
Assam police said 62 per cent of the personnel are Meiteis, while 12 per cent are Kukis and 26 per cent Nagas.
"Apart from the general combat and arms training, they were provided lessons on national integration, communal harmony and other conflict resolutions. These skills will help them tackle various situations in a better way," said an officer of Assam Police.
"We could not organise the training for these personnel in Manipur as the conflict broke out. But Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma promptly accepted my request to send them to this academy and we are grateful for this gesture," Biren Singh said.
Manipur has remained on the boil due to the conflict since May last year. At least 258 people have died and over 60,000 others displaced.
Both the communities have geographically remained divided with the central forces deployed along the "buffer zones" between the Meitei-dominated districts and the Kuki-majority areas.
The efforts to initiate talks too has not made any headway as both the communities have remained firm on their demands.