Following days of ethnic violence, which began on May 3, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will arrive in Manipur on a four-day visit, beginning Monday, during which he will hold several rounds of security meetings to assess the situation and plan steps to restore normalcy, reported PTI, citing sources.
This is Shah’s first visit to the state after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ on May 3 organised in the hill districts to protest against the politically-influential Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status turned violent, claiming over 75 lives so far in the northeastern state.
The home minister will be in the state from May 29 to June 1. He will arrive in Imphal this evening and is expected to meet representatives from the civil society and various groups of the Meitei and the Kuki communities.
Shah, who was in Assam recently, while addressing a programme had said that he would visit Manipur soon.
On Sunday, Chief Minister N Biren Singh said that nearly 40 armed terrorists involved in torching houses and firing at civilians have been killed by security forces since an operation was launched to restore peace in the state.
Separately, at least two persons were killed and 12 were injured in different instances of firing upon civilians and clashes between militants and security forces since the early hours of Sunday.
Meanwhile, as many as 10 tribal MLAs belonging to the Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi group in Manipur had demanded a separate administration for their region in the wake of recent violent clashes between the Meiteis and tribals. However, CM Biren Singh said he had rejected their demands, and said, “territorial integrity of Manipur will be protected”.
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 ethnic violence-hit state.