Congress urges rethink before moving out IRB battalions

Leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Tokheho Yepthomi today urged the Nagaland People's Front government to 'rethink' before complying with the Centre's purported move to send two battalions of IRB(NAP) from Nagaland to be deployed at Chhattisgarh to tackle the Maoist menace.
In a statement, Yepthomi said he had "reliable information" that the ministry of home affairs (MHA) has sought two battalions of IRB(NAP) from Nagaland to be deployed at Chhattisgarh to tackle the menace of Maoist activities.
Tokheho said that it would not be proper for the state to send 4 or 5 battalions of Nagaland Armed Police as demanded by the Centre to other states at one go even if it was obligatory on the part of the state to comply.

Tokheho said that the state has already committed a battalion-plus strength of Nagaland armed police for policing duties in Delhi and the 11 IRB battalion, which is currently deployed in Puruial, West Bengal to combat Naxalites. He said the 11 IR will be relieved by another IR battalion in a month's time.
He reminded the government that the people were aware of the loss of IR personnel in Chhattisgarh a few years back when 20 of them died during encounters with Maoists and 12 died of illness.
He also said that during the 17 years of cease fire, the presence of armed forces in Nagaland has been drastically reduced and stretching the capacity of state armed police battalions.

In this regard, Tokheho said the state government would have to do a rethink its position and stand firm before the MHA if the state was asked to deploy the Naga jawans to Maoist areas.