After the Naga peace framework agreement, the Union Home Ministry does not seem to be on the same page as Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) chief R.N. Ravi on the handling of security along the porous Myanmar border.
Mr. Ravi has submitted a report to the Ministry in which he has suggested that the Assam Rifles, which is currently posted along the Myanmar border, be replaced by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
The Home Ministry has red-flagged the suggestion saying replacing the entire Assam Rifles force from the border could have serious “financial and security-related implications.”
CCS to take final call
The final decision will, however, be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Home Minister Rajnath Singh is a member of the committee.
India and Myanmar share an unfenced border of 1,643 km adjoining Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Nagaland (215 km), Manipur (398 km) and Mizoram (510 km) and permit a ‘free movement’ regime up to 16 km across the border.
The need to reassess the security along the border was realised when militants belonging to the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) killed 18 Army jawans in Chandel district of Manipur in June this year. Though a committee headed by Mr. Ravi had already been constituted by the Home Ministry, the Manipur incident was a wake-up call for the government.
The Assam Rifles functions under the Defence Ministry, but its administrative control is with the Ministry of Home Affairs.
During the UPA government’s term, the MHA had pushed for the deployment of the BSF along the Myanmar border, but that decision never came about.
“It is not feasible to replace the entire Assam Rifles from the border since they have spent considerable years there. Putting in a new force would also lead to security implications. Plus, huge finance would also be required to raise new battalions of the ITBP, as we cannot pull all of them from the China border [its primary responsibility] and deploy them here,” said a senior government official.
Sources said the ITBP has proposed raising 30 new battalions, in case it is deployed there. The Assam Rifles (AR), which already has 25,000 men deployed there, said they would need only a few thousand more men to plug the gaps along the border.
“The induction of a new force also means that new installations and infrastructure will have to be created. Presently, the government does not have that much money to spare on a new recruitment plan,” said the official. Another suggestion is to have robust patrolling by the Assam Rifles as several insurgent camps continue to operate in Myanmar, close to the border.
