Union Government deploys 2 CoBRA battalions in Manipur

The Centre has ordered the deployment of two battalions of the CRPF’s jungle warfare unit CoBRA for operational duties in Manipur, official sources said on Sunday.

The State administration and the Union Government have been working to bring long-lasting peace in Manipur, as more than 260 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups since May 2023.

Officials said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has approved a proposal of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to deploy two CoBRA battalions in Manipur — battalion number 207, based in West Bengal and 210 located in Assam — for operational duties.

“The two CoBRA battalions will undertake specific operations against the armed groups that undertake violence in Manipur,” a senior security officer said, adding the earmarked units will move in the State over the next few weeks.

The Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) was raised by the CRPF in 2008-09 to tackle the menace of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) that was raging in multiple Indian states apart from insurgency in certain States of the Northeast.

CoBRA has a total of ten battalions at present, and they are mostly deployed in the anti-Naxal operations theatre. Each CoBRA battalion has a strength of about 1,000 commandos.

The commandos of this battalion are credited by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) with undertaking successful intelligence-based jungle warfare and guerrilla tactics operations against Naxals, leading to the end of Maoist violence in the country this March.

Officials said that with the operations in the LWE theatre now being reduced to seeking and destroying hidden improvised explosive devices (IEDs) apart from general security of the area, it was planned by the CRPF to move two CoBRA units to Manipur, where restoration of complete peace is a task in a “work in progress.”