IMPHAL, May 24 – The Manipur Police is likely to give the finishing touches to the ongoing massive manhunt in the Sajik Tampak area in the Southern Chandel district bordering Myanmar to flush out insurgents. Army troops have been carrying out combing operation since mid-April in and around the Sajik Tempak area, over 100 km south of Imphal near the Indo-Myanmar border. A brigade headquarter of the Army, comprising the 29 Madras Regiment, 7 Sikh light infantry and 9 Rajput Rifles, has been installed at the Chakpikarong area in the southern Chandel district for intensifying their counter-insurgency operations in Manipur. The Brigade Commander is Brigadier GS Malhi.
As regards the finishing touches to the manhunt in the area, which is the stronghold of major underground outfits of the State, the Director General of Police AK Parashar said that a number of underground cadres including women cadres have been forced out from their Sajik Tampak area camps. The state police department has been put on high alert to neutralise the fleeing insurgents, the state police chief said, adding that the police have received reports that most of the insurgents have fled without carrying their arms.
The Manipur DGP further said that to stop the fleeing insurgents from their temporary or permanent camps in and around Sajik Tempak from intruding into greater Imphal areas, the police have taken up a number of unconventional ‘methods’ to keep their movements in check and to effectively neutralise them, he informed. Parashar said the police department will now be fully utilised to check the movements of the militants who have fled their camps.
Stating that the operation at Sajik Tampak areas in the southern side of the Chandel district of the State bordering Myanmar helped the government to put the administration back on track, the top police officer felt that earlier, the insurgents’ practice of summoning contractors, officials or traders to Sajik Tampak area to serve them demand notices have gone down considerably.
Meanwhile, Brigadier RK Sharma, 59 Mountain Brigade while talking to the media said that he was not involved in the ongoing combing operations in the Sajik Tampak area.