Amit Shah Holds Meeting With Senior Officials On Manipur Situation, Another Meeting Scheduled Tomorrow

Home Minister Amit Shah had cancelled his rallies in poll-bound Maharashtra on Sunday and headed back to Delhi as the situation in Manipur continued to be volatile.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday held a meeting with senior officials in the national capital on the security situation in Manipur. 

 

Amit Shah is expected to hold another detailed meeting with top officers on Monday (November 18) and take further steps, a report in PTI said. The home minister reviewed the situation in Manipur with top security officials and directed them to take all possible steps to ensure peace, the report quoted sources as saying. 

 

Shah had cancelled his rallies in poll-bound Maharashtra on Sunday and headed back to Delhi as the situation in Manipur continued to be volatile, PTI reported quoting sources.

 

 

On Saturday, irate mobs set fire to the residences of three more BJP legislators, one of whom is a senior minister, and a Congress MLA in various districts of Imphal Valley even as security forces foiled an attempt by agitators to storm the ancestral residence of Chief Minister N Biren Singh.

 

The fresh incidents of violent protests took place on Saturday night even as an indefinite curfew was clamped after people, agitated by the killing of three women and three children by militants in Jiribam district, attacked the residences of three state ministers and six MLAs earlier on Saturday. 

 

Earlier on November 11, the Manipur Police claimed 10 suspected militants were killed in a fierce gunfight with security forces after insurgents in armed with sophisticated weapons fired indiscriminately at Borobekra Police Station and an adjacent CRPF camp at Jakuradhor in Jiribam. However, the militants allegedly abducted six civilians, including women and children from the district. 

 

A team of central security officers is expected to visit Manipur soon to assess the situation and assist the state government in tackling the situation.

 

The meeting comes amid reports that Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma-led National People’s Party on Sunday withdrew support to BJP-led Manipur government, blaming N Biren Singh amid unrest. NPP has 7 MLAs while the  BJP has a majority of its own so this development poses no threat to the Manipur Government.

 

The home ministry on Saturday said that all security forces deployed in Manipur have been directed to take necessary steps to restore order and peace in the state where the situation remained fragile in the past few days. It said armed miscreants from both communities in conflict have been indulging in violence leading to unfortunate loss of lives and disruption in public order.

 

The home ministry said strict action would be initiated against anyone trying to indulge in violent and disruptive activities. The Centre had on Thursday reimposed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in Manipur's six police station areas, including the violence-hit Jiribam.