From The Telegraph 20 April 2012
NISHIT DHOLABHAI |
New Delhi, April 19: The BSF may soon replace the Assam Rifles on the Myanmar border after Manipur backed the home ministry’s proposal.
Manipur — one of the northeastern states that shares a border with Myanmar — is learnt to have written to the home ministry asking for the Assam Rifles to be exclusively deployed for counter-insurgency while the BSF patrols the 1,643km border.
“We have received a communication from Manipur but other (northeastern) states also want the BSF at the border,” a government source said.
Armed with the approval of Manipur — which has a 398km border with Myanmar — the home ministry is preparing to take the proposal to the cabinet committee on security. Union home minister P. Chidambaram has long pushed for the BSF, which guards the frontiers with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
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