Peace panel set up, Centre’s probe team arrives in Manipur

Guwahati: The Centre on Saturday set up a peace committee in Manipur under the leadership of governor Anusuiya Uikey and chief minister N Biren Singh as one of the members to broker peace among various ethnic groups of the state through dialogue and negotiations.
The other members of committee include a few state ministers, MP, MLAs and leaders of political parties. The committee also includes former civil servants, educationists, litterateurs, artists, social workers and representatives of different ethnic groups.
The mandate of the committee will also be to “strengthen social cohesiveness, mutual understanding and facilitate cordial communication between various ethnic groups,” an official statement said.
Union home minister Amit Shah had assured of setting up a peace committee after taking stock of the situation during his four-day visit to the state from May 29.
In the meanwhile, the three-member commission of inquiry on the violence set up by Centre and headed by retired chief justice of Gauhati High Court Ajai Lamba arrived in Imphal on Saturday. Shah had announced to set up this commission during his Manipur visit. Lamba was accompanied by the other members, former bureaucrat Himanshu Sekhar Das and retired IPS officer Aloka Prabhakar.
Shah during his visit had also announced a CBI probe to investigate five FIRs on criminal conspiracy and one on general conspiracy behind the violence in Manipur.