SILCHAR: The Assam police has started a door-to-door survey in Cachar district to identify people from Manipur’s Jiribam who have taken shelter in district and warned them not to indulge in violence, senior Assam police and administrative officials said on Monday.
“This is Assam, not Manipur. Here we have a history of tackling militancy and we won’t spare anyone if found involved in illegal activities,” Assam inspector general (IG) (Law and Order) Prasanta Kumar Bhuiyan told residents of Lakhipur on Monday.
He said the survey to identify people from Manipur started on Sunday in the district, which is estimated to have sheltered about 1,700 residents from Manipur who came across due to the ethnic violence in Manipur.
Bhuiyan also met senior officials of Assam Rifles deployed in Manipur at a meeting in Lakhipur on Monday where the measures needed to maintain law and order along the inter-state boundary were discussed.
A senior officer from Assam Rifles said that the situation in Jiribam is not normal yet but it is under control. “This cannot be solved by forces or police alone. Community-level measures need to be taken,” he said.
Cachar deputy commissioner Rohan Kumar Jha and superintendent of police (SP) Numal Mahatta also met Jiribam district’s additional deputy commissioner Monoranjan Thokchom and additional SP (crime), Thomas Thokchom.
Rohan Kumar Jha said Cachar doesn’t want a spillover of the violence from Manipur to Assam. “We have allowed the Manipur residents to take shelter here but no act of violence will be allowed here. Once the situation in our neighbouring state improves, we’ll ask the Jiribam residents to return home,” he said.
Monoranjan Thokchom said the situation in Jiribam was gradually improving but was still tense. Thomas Thokchom said it was still not appropriate for the displaced people to return.
“There are fresh attempts of violence and we are trying to keep an eye on each such move. We are thankful to Assam for providing shelter to Jiribam residents… They have been doing it for more than a year. We want to bring our citizens back home and we discussed these in the meeting,” the additional SP said.
Cachar district shares a 132-km long boundary with Manipur, a large part of it is riverine. New posts have been created to strengthen the vigil on the border.
