Imphal, Aug 3 (IANS): After several tribal organisations, 10 Manipur MLAs, who have been demanding a separate administration or a Union Territory for the tribals, urged the Prime Minister and Home Minister separately not to withdraw two battalions of Assam Rifles from the Kuki-Zo-Hmar inhabited tribal areas.

The 10 tribal MLAs, including two ministers -- Nemcha Kipgen and Letpao Haokip -- in separate memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, said that "it is pertinent to cite that the un-biased service of the Assam Rifles in the fringe areas has been obviously instrumental in prevention of further escalation of violence till date".

"The role played by the Assam Rifles so far in maintenance of law and order is absolutely neutral," the legislators said in their August 2 memorandum, released to the media on Saturday.

They claimed that the withdrawal of two battalions of the Assam Rifles from their current sensitive deployment at Kangvai and Kangpokpi is being done following "pressure from the state government".

The MLAs said: "To maintain the current status-quo particularly in the buffer-zones separating the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities, the undaunted and unbiased presence of the Assam Rifles is highly indispensable at this stage."

Of the 10 tribal MLAs, seven are from the ruling BJP, two are from the Kuki People's Alliance and one is an Independent.

Citing insecurity in Imphal, these legislators have been boycotting the Manipur assembly sessions, including the ongoing budget session, since the ethnic violence broke out in the northeastern state in May last year.

Highly placed official sources in Imphal said that two battalions of the Assam Rifles will be moved from Manipur to Jammu and Kashmir to intensify counter-terror operations.

Instead, two battalions of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) would be deployed in Kuki-Zo-Hmar inhabited Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts.

The counter-insurgency trained Assam Rifles, which operates under Army officers, has been hugely deployed since ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, 2023.

Earlier, many Kuki-Zo-Hmar tribal organisations including Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), an apex body of tribals in Manipur, Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council, Zo United, Kuki Students' Organisation are agitating against the withdrawal of the Assam Rifles from the tribal dominated areas and also urged the Prime Minister and Home Minister not to withdraw the para-military force.

On the other hand, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an umbrella body of the Meitei community and a few other organisations have been demanding the replacement of the Assam Rifles by any other Central Armed Police Force (CAPF).

The COCOMI recently declared an indefinite boycott of the Assam Rifles in the state.