Amid ongoing violence in Manipur, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Anil Chauhan on Tuesday said that the challenges in the northeastern state have not disappeared, and will take some time for law and order to be restored.
“The situation in Manipur is nothing to do with counter-insurgency and is primarily a clash between two ethnicities. It is a law and order kind of situation and we are helping the state government. We have done an excellent job and saved a large number of lives. The challenges in Manipur have not disappeared and it will take some time but hopefully, they should settle down,” he said at a press briefing.
Earlier, on Saturday, Army Chief General Manoj Pande arrived in the violence-hit state for a two-day visit to review the law and order situation, as the state reported rising incidents of sporadic violence over the last few days.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah also arrived in Manipur on Monday for a four-day visit, till June 1.
In a meeting on Monday night between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister N Biren Singh, a decision was made to provide compensation of Rs 10 lakh to those who died during the ethnic conflict in Manipur. The compensation amount will be equally borne by the Centre and the state, officials said, as reported by PTI.
A member of the family of those who died in the rioting will also be provided a job.
The Home minister flew in Imphal on Monday night, and is accompanied by the Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Director of the Intelligence Bureau Tapan Kumar Deka.
He will hold a series of meetings on Tuesday 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.
A ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ on May 3, organised in the hill districts of the state, to protest the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, turned violent, and opened old faultlines between the two communities – Meiteis and Kukis.
The latest round of clashes saw at least five dead on Sunday. The death toll since May 3 has risen to over 80.
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.