Assam Rifles set for UN mission in quake-hit Haiti
By IANSThursday, March 11, 2010
SHILLONG - Troopers of the Assam Rifles, India’s oldest paramilitary force, will join the UN mission in Haiti next month to provide relief and aid to the quake-hit nation, an official said Thursday.
“In all, 140 Assam Rifles personnel, including officers, would leave for Haiti early next month,” an Assam Rifles spokesman told reporters here.
This would be the first time that troopers from the 175-year-old force would take part in a UN mission.
The paramilitary troopers would engage in relief and aid work besides looking after the security aspects.
The Jan 12 quake with a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale killed more than 200,000 people and destroyed much of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince and its surroundings.
The Assam Rifles has 46 battalions deployed in nine sectors across northeastern India. One battalion comprises around 1,000 personnel.
According to the Assam Rifles spokesman, another 26 battalions would be raised very soon to curb militancy and man the volatile Indo-Myanmar border. Of the 46 battalions, 15 are deployed along the 1,643-km long Indo-Myanmar border.
Assam Rifles, known as the ‘Sentinels of the Northeast’, functions under the administrative control of the union home ministry and the operational command of the army.
