Amit Shah In Manipur: As Manipur continues to reel under ethnic unrest, Union Home Minister Amit Shah reached the violence-hit state to try and restore peace by hammering out a solution between the warring communities. Shah, who flew to a tense but peaceful Imphal on a special flight, chaired a meeting on Monday night with Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, along with state ministers, other senior leaders, and officials to assess the situation on the ground.
In the meeting, it was decided that the central and Manipur state government will a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to those who died during the ethnic conflict. The compensation amount will be equally borne by the centre and the state, officials said, adding that a member of the family of those who died in the rioting will also be provided with a job.
The Union Home Minister will hold several rounds of meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday to find a solution to the ethnic conflict and plan further steps to restore normalcy in the region.
Manipur Violence Latest Updates:
▶Officials said that in the meeting with Home Minister yesterday, the Manipur government also decided to set up dedicated telephone lines which will be used to dispel rumour mongering which has largely affected the process to calm down the situation and bring peace in the troubled state.
▶Shah’s meeting also decided to ensure that essential items such as petrol, LPG gas, rice and other fod products will be made available in large quantities to cool down prices.
▶A woman delegation meets Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Imphal.
▶Union Home Minister Amit Shah who is on a mission to restore peace in strife-torn Manipur, will hold a series of meetings with political and civil society leaders from both the Meitei and Kuki communities and visit Churachandpur, the site of some of the worst rioting earlier this month, on Tuesday.
▶ In an earlier meeting with CM Biren Singh and others, Shah, who flew into Imphal last night accompanied by the home secretary, took stock of the situation.
▶The meeting, sources said, decided on a series of relief measures as well as steps to augment supplies in this north-eastern state to cool down prices of essential commodities which have soared since ethnic violence began earlier this month. Sources said Kuki leaders and MLAs, many of whom had left for neighbouring states, may be flown in for talks with him.
▶Curfew has been relaxed in East and West Imphal for 6 hours in the morning. The curfew will be relaxed from 5 am to 11 am.
▶Manipur, afflicted by ethnic conflict for nearly a month witnessed a sudden spurt in clashes and firing between militants and security forces on Sunday, after a relative lull for several weeks.
▶The death toll from clashes since ethnic rioting began on May 3 has gone up to 80 according to officials with three people succumbing to injuries on Monday and two being killed by firing by militants on Sunday.
▶Army and paramilitary personnel have been conducting combing operations in the Imphal valley and surrounding districts, an official said.
▶The Army operation is aimed at confiscating illegal caches of arms, he said.
▶At least 25 miscreants with arms, ammunition and grenades have been rounded up by Indian Army and paramilitary forces across ethnic-strife-riven Manipur, officials added on Monday.
▶A spokesperson for the defence forces said a number of people were detained with weapons after fresh incidents of firing and clashes broke out in and around Imphal Valley on Sunday.
▶"Swift action by the Army averted loss of precious lives and multiple incidents of arson," the statement said.
▶The Defence PRO also said that Sugnu and Serou villages of Kakching district witnessed violent clashes on Sunday which saw the army intervening to rescue people affected.
▶"Villagers of both communities were stranded in pockets under the protection of security forces. In a major evacuation drive organised by Army and Assam Rifles in coordination with Police, State administration and Civil Society Organisations, nearly 2000 Meitei villagers were evacuated from Serou to Pangaltabi Relief Camp," he added.
▶While aerial surveillance cover was given by UAVs, Mine Protected Vehicles and area domination patrols were put in place on ground to ensure safe and incident free evacuation, the official said.
▶"Similarly, nearly 328 Kuki villagers were safely evacuated to Sajik Tampak from Sugnu," he added.
▶Earlier on Sunday, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had said nearly 40 armed militants involved in torching houses and firing at civilians have been killed by security forces since they began an operation to bring peace to the northeastern state beset by ethnic rioting.
▶Around 140 columns of the Indian Army and Assam Rifles, comprising over 10,000 personnel, besides those from other paramilitary forces, had to be deployed to bring back normalcy in the northeastern state.
Ethnic clashes, which have claimed over 80 lives besides injuring 300 others, first broke out in Manipur after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts on May 3 to protest the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. The violence was preceded by tension over the eviction of Kuki villagers from reserve forest land, which had led to a series of smaller agitations.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals Nagas and Kukis constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside in the hill districts.
(With inputs from agencies)