Gangtok, Dec. 28: Responsibility for security
of the famed Rumtek monastery and the Sikkim Raj Bhavan will
soon be shifted from the Central Industrial Security Force
(CISF) to the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
Official sources said the ITBP would take
over from the CISF in the first week of January.
Sources also said the ITBP was called in
since it was likely to be posted on the international borders
with Bhutan and Nepal later. This would be in addition to
their duties at Rumtek and Raj Bhavan.
At present, two companies of the CISF are posted in the state.
They have been guarding the Rumtek monastery since they took
over from the Sikkim Armed Police many years ago.
Rumtek has been under the security scanner
ever since violence erupted in the monastery between two factions
in the mid-nineties. The Sikkim Armed Police eventually had
to enter the monastery premises and take control. It was later
replaced by the CISF.
Security was further tightened at the monastery
after the emergence of three claimants to the position of
Karmapa of the Karma Kagyu order.
While a majority of people in Sikkim have
accepted Orgyen Trinley Dorji as the real Karmapa, rival claimants
include Thaye Dorji, the contender backed by the Shamarpa
camp, and Dawa Sangpo Dorji, who is also known as the Sherpa
Karmapa.
Shamarpa is one of the Rumtek regents whose
entry into Sikkim has been restricted by the ministry of external
affairs.
Courtesy
The Telegraph |
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