New Delhi: Home Minister Amit Shah held a series of meetings with Chief Minister of Manipur N Biren Singh, representatives of Meitei and Kuki communities and other stakeholders to review the measures taken for restoring peace in the state, in the last 48 hours. A senior official from the Home Ministry said that Shah held a meeting with the representatives of the Kuki community from Manipur and a group of CSOs from Mizoram on Monday.
On Sunday, Shah held a meeting with the Chief Minister of Manipur, four of his Cabinet colleagues and the Rajya Sabha MP in New Delhi. He also met representatives of the Meitei community. “During the meeting, the Union Home Minister reviewed the measures taken for restoring peace in Manipur, which has witnessed violent clashes between two ethnic communities. He directed strict action against the perpetrators of violence and assured complete support and help of the Central government for ensuring lasting peace,” the official said.
Shah assured that the government would take all measures to protect various communities in the state. Shah stressed expediting the process of relief and rehabilitation so as to minimise the suffering of the people. In another meeting, the Home Ministryasked all central security agencies to take strong action against anybody found disturbing peace in Manipur.
The fresh direction was given following a review meeting held at North Block, a day after Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh and other BJP leadership from the State were summoned by the party's central leadership. The meeting that took place at North Block was chaired by Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla where top officials of central security agencies were present.
A senior official in the Home Ministry told ETV Bharat that Shah has assured Singh that a joint monitoring committee comprising the army and State police will jointly inspect the relief camps in the violence-hit areas of Manipur. “Today’s meeting at the Home Ministry mainly concentrated on resting normalcy in Manipur. It was also reiterated that strong action needs to be taken against anybody found violating peace in Manipur,” the official said.
The meeting that took place in the afternoon also discussed various issues, which instigated the recent violence and backlash in Manipur. The meeting discussed the issues of illegal influx from Myanmar as well as the issue of drug smuggling in the State. Preliminary reports suggested that the violence that broke out between Meitei and Kukis was instigated by an illegal influx coming from Myanmar and insurgent outfits. “Any possibility of recurrence of such a clash between the two communities was also discussed in the meeting as ground reports from Manipur suggested the same,” the official said.
Violence clash took place on May 3 after a tribal solidarity march was held in 10 hill districts in protest against Meiteis demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. It is worth mentioning that Meiteis account for 53 per cent of Manipur’s population, mostly living in the Valley and Kukis account for 40 per cent of the population, living in the hill districts.
