Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a high-level meeting at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to review security situation in Manipur on Monday (June 17). Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Intelligence Bureau Chief Tapan Deka, Army Chief General Manoj Pande, Army Chief (Designate) Lt General Upendra Dwivedi, GoC Three Core HS Sahi, Security Advisor to Manipur Kuldiep Singh, Manipur Chief Secretary Vineet Joshi, Manipur DGP Rajiv Singh and Assam Rifles DG Pradeep Chandran Nair were present at the meeting. Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh was not present at the meeting.
Ethnic violence which erupted in Manipur on May 3, 2023, after a tribal solidarity march in the hill districts protested against the majority Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status. Since then, over 220 people from both the Kuki and Meitei communities, as well as security personnel, have been killed in the ongoing conflict. Meiteis account for about 53% of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, including Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40% and reside mainly in the hill districts.
The northeastern state has seen fresh violence in the last couple of weeks with a school building near Moreh being set ablaze and a missing person’s beheaded body found was found.Last week, armed militants ambushed the convoy of Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh’s advanced security team in Kangpokpi district, leaving a civilian driver and a security officer injured. Earlier, Shah had visited Manipur last month, and held nine peace meetings with representatives of both Meitei and Kuki communities to broker peace, however, there has been no respite in violence.