The Chief Of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan has said the situation in Manipur will take time to settle down as the challenges have not disappeared. This comes as the state reports incidents of sporadic violence. He said, "The situation in Manipur is nothing to do with counter-insurgency and is primarily a clash between two ethnicities. It's a law and order kind of situation and we are helping the state govt. We've 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."
Amid the crisis, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is also in the state and is scheduled to visit the riot-hit Churachandpur district to meet leaders of both Meitei and Kuki communities in a bid to restore peace.
Shah will also hold meetings with several political and civil society leaders, reported PTI. Shah is on a four-day visit to the strife-torn state which has been witnessing continuous arson for the last month.
The minister reached the state capital Imphal on Monday night along with his home secretary and held a meeting with chief minister N Biren Singh, as well as some of his cabinet colleagues, and intelligence and security officials, reported PTI.
The news agency mentioned sources as saying that the meeting decided on a series of relief measures as well as steps to augment supplies in this northeastern state to cool down prices of essential commodities. The prices steeply rose in the region since ethnic violence began earlier this month.
Sources said Kuki leaders and MLAs, many of whom had left for neighbouring states, may be flown in for talks with him.
According to PTI, Kukis have been demanding a separate administration for the districts they live in, failing which they have asked for the President’s rule to be imposed on the state.
Manipur, afflicted by ethnic conflict for nearly a month witnessed a sudden rise in conflicts and firing between militants and security forces on Sunday, after a relative normalcy for several weeks.
The toll from the clashes has gone up to 80, according to officials, the agency said.
Army and paramilitary forces have been conducting combing operations in the Imphal valley and surrounding districts, an official said. The operations are aimed at confiscating illegal caches of arms, he said, as quoted by PTI.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals Nagas and Kukis constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside in the hill districts.
As per PTI, 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.