Govt working to restore peace in Manipur, says Union Home Minister

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sep 17 said the government is talking to both the Meitei and Kuki communities in Manipur to ensure lasting peace and has begun fencing the country's border with Myanmar to check infiltration.

Addressing a press conference on the achievements of the 100 days of the Modi 3.0 government, Shah said barring three days of violence last week, the overall situation in Manipur has been calm and the government has been working to restore peace in the restive Northeastern state.

Shah, flanked by Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, said apart from the three days of violence, no major incidents were reported in the last three months.

"There was peace in the last three days and I am hopeful that we will be able to control the situation. We are talking to both communities. It was ethnic violence and unless there is dialogue between the two communities, no solution could be found.

"We are talking to the Kuki and Meitei groups. We have prepared a roadmap and will take all possible steps (to ensure peace)," he said.

Shah said the government has successfully completed the deployment of Central Reserve Police Force personnel at strategic locations across Manipur.

He said in the first 100 days of the Modi 3.0 government, work on fencing the India-Myanmar border, which is the root cause of the problem, has begun.

"Fencing work in 30 km has been completed. Besides the government of India has approved the budget for fencing along the over 1,500 km border," he said.

The home minister said the government has already scrapped the India-Myanmar Free Movement Regime (FMR), which allows people residing close to the border between the two countries to venture 16 km into each other's territory without any documents.

"To check the infiltration, we have ended the special arrangement (FMR) with Myanmar under which free movement of the people of both countries was allowed. Now people can cross into each other's territory only with a visa. We brought a law in this regard," he said.

Shah said the government has also ended the security lapses which existed earlier along the international border.

The 1,643 km long India-Myanmar border, which passes through Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, had the FMR that was implemented in 2018 as part of India's Act East policy.

The home minister said the government has decided to open 16 new Kendriya Police Kalyan Bhandars in Manipur to provide essential commodities to the common people at reasonable prices, in addition to the 21 that already existed.

"A road was blocked there. That blockade has been removed. But due to the prevailing situation, transporters were reluctant to travel through the road. That's why the stores have been opened where about 100 items, including foodgrains, will be available.

"The prices are reasonable... The poor will get the benefit. The stores are open for everyone," he said.

Asked about the possible visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Manipur, Shah said, when he visits the state, it will be known to everyone.

Ethnic violence has been going on in Manipur since May 3 last year after a tribal solidarity march in the hill districts of the state to protest against the majority Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

Since then, over 220 people belonging to both the Kuki and Meitei communities and security personnel have been killed in the continuing violence.

Commenting on the overall situation in the Northeastern region, Shah said the government has concluded 11 peace agreements with different organizations of the region under which over 10,900 youths have given up arms and joined the mainstream.

"Only one organization is left now and we are talking to that organization too," he said.

(PTI)