Who are the CDOs?

Almost everyone in Manipur has seen the police commandos in action both in the valley and the hills. But do they really exist? Officially, there are no such special units in the organizational hierarchy of the Manipur police organization. One will not find the existence of such a unit among the various branches of the state police organization. According to the official website of Manipur Police, the branches are Civil Police, Armed Police (MR & IRB), Criminal Intelligence Department (CID), Traffic Police, Narcotics & Affairs of Border (NAB), DG Control Room, Manipur Police Wireless, Manipur Police Training School (MPTS), Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Central Motor Transport Workshop (CMTW) and Home Guard. Yet, their existence is acknowledged in official reports, vehicular emblems, insignia on caps and uniforms and badges. This question was raised in the recent memorandum submitted by the Civil Society Coalition for Human Rights, Manipur (CSCHR) to the UN Special Rapporteur for extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions Christof Heyns. And it has become more pertinent, in the wake of state Home Minister Gaikhangam’s statement to the media that he will be reviewing the functioning of the so-called police commandos or CDOs. It is a bold statement; in fact no one in government had said that before. So, it has become necessary to place the facts on the table. First, what is supposed to be a commando? And what does it mean in history? During the World War II, the British had raised elite forces known as commandos for covert strikes upon the enemy. The British intended that their commandos be small, highly mobile surprise raiding and reconnaissance forces. They intended them to carry all they needed and not remain in field operations for more than 36 hours. Army Commandos were all volunteers selected from existing soldiers still in Britain. During the war the British Army Commandos spawned several other famous British units such as the Special Air Service, the Special Boat Service and the Parachute Regiment. The British Army Commandos themselves were never regimented and were disbanded at the end of the war. In India, the term commando is used liberally for almost any unit that has more training than their peers. This is especially true in the police forces. However, there are certain units that are trained to internationally acceptable standards. Mention may be made of the Para Commandos; a special forces unit of the Indian Army; the Garud Commando Force, a special unit of the Indian Air Force; MARCOS, a commando unit of the Indian Navy designed to carry out operation on air, sea and land; National Security Guards (NSG) personnel are popularly known as Black Cat Commandos which also carries out hostage rescue and anti-terrorist operations; the Special Protection Group (SPG) which provides protection to the political elite of the nation; Ghatak Force, a battalion-level special unit in the Indian Army; and the COBRA unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) utilized mostly in Naxalite areas. Among the states, Punjab has a commando battalion. Commandos in Punjab Police came into existence in the year 1989. The idea was to establish a better trained better equipped and specialised force to combat terrorism in the State. The 33rd battalion of PAP was renamed as PAP Commando battalion in the year of 1989 and then declared as first commando battalion in 1990. In Manipur, there is no commando battalion as such, although establishment of a commando battalion is doing the rounds in recent times. Yet, there are police commando units in all the district headquarters of the valley and they are handling the operational part. One need not elaborate on the activities of the police commandos in Manipur, everyone has a story. They are, in fact, the champions of fake encounters and ‘official extortion’. There have been instances of rebellion among the commando ranks over intended government action for excesses and times when they had held the government at ransom by putting down arms. This is simply indiscipline on their part and on the other hand the reflection of the political masters at the mercy of the police commandos who hold the key. This is an extremely dangerous situation, which the new Home Minister needs to take into account while considering police reforms. Nobody takes heed of the Supreme Court directives issued in 2006 in reference to the Prakash Singh v Union of India case. The directives seek to address the issue of politicisation of the police by regulating transfers, postings, and promotions; enhance its accountability through independent bodies; and strengthen its professionalism through regular performance appraisals.