Central team to hold talks with groups in Manipur

The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs has sent a team to Manipur to hold talks with members of the Meitei and Kuki communities to restore peace after ethnic violence. The team will spend several days in the region, meeting with civil society organisations and representatives from both communities. The state has been experiencing ethnic clashes between the Meitei community and the Kukis since May 2020, resulting in numerous deaths and displacement of people. The intervention by central representatives is significant due to the recent cycle of violence in the region.

The Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Monday dispatched a three-member team to ethnic violence-hit Manipur to hold talks with members of both Meitei and Kuki communities in an attempt to restore peace in the northeastern state, people familiar with the matter said.

Manipur has been in the throes of ethnic violence between the majority Meitei community and the tribal Kukis since May 3 last year. (PTI)

The team comprising AK Mishra, the Centre’s interlocutor for peace talks, and two senior officials from the Intelligence Bureau (IB), will spend few days in Manipur, holding talks with various civil society organisations and representatives from both communities, an official aware of the details said.

“The central team reached Imphal on a special charter flight on Monday evening. They will remain in Manipur for next few days and start talks,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

Though MHA officials did not comment on the proposed meetings of its representatives, officials in Manipur said the MHA team held its first meeting with Arambai Tenggol, an influential Meitei group in the Imphal valley, where the community dominates.

Manipur has been in the throes of ethnic violence between the majority Meitei community and the tribal Kukis since May 3 last year, with other communities increasingly sucked into clashes that have continued off and on. Over the past eight months, at least 207 people have lost their lives, and over 50,000 people have been displaced.

To be sure, IB officials and Mishra have been visiting Manipur from time to time since the ethnic clashes broke out in the state on May 3 last year.

However, people familiar with the matter said the ongoing visit holds significance for various reasons, including its timing as it comes amid the latest cycle of violence, particularly in Moreh town along the Myanmar border in Tengnoupal district and at Ningthong Kha Khunou in Bishnupur district where militants have not only targeted members from the other community but also the security forces.

Another reason why the intervention by the central representatives is important, according to officials, is a call by Arambai Tenggol (AT) urging all legislators from the valley to gather at Kangla Fort for a meeting of the community on January 24. The Meitei civil society organisation, which has been accused of violence by Kuki groups, has called the meeting in the backdrop of recent cases of Meitei residents being killed while entering Kuki-Zo tribal villages.

On Monday, a resolution was adopted by 34 legislators of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies in the state urging the Centre to abrogate the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with militant groups to prevent violence from escalating. The MLAs also urged central security forces to fire back at militants when the latter attack unarmed civilians.

“Legislators have unanimously resolved that Government of India should take up appropriate action at the earliest. If Government of India is unable to take any positive action as per these demands, we the legislators will take appropriate action in consultation with the public,” the resolution stated.

The SoO agreement was signed by Kuki militant groups with the Centre and the Manipur government in August 2008 following the Kuki-Naga clashes. The agreement was signed with 25 Kuki militant groups — 17 of them under the umbrella group Kuki National Organisation and eight under United Peoples Front. As per the agreement, the cadres of these groups were to be confined to designated camps and their arms kept locked in safe rooms under double-locking system.