Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said here that the Government is committed to restore peace in Manipur and ensuring an early return of all internally displaced people back to their homes. Meeting victims from both Meitei and Kuki communities in relief camps in the State, he assured them of security and said the Government’s focus is to ensure their safe return home.
The Centre is working on a three-pronged approach to bring the warring Meitei and Kuki communities into a narrow common ground for lasting peace in trouble-torn Manipur, sources said on Wednesday. These include dialogue with the affected people, rehabilitating those who had to leave their homes with enhanced security and control over insurgents, the sources privy to the development said. The major task before the Government is to build confidence between the Meitei and Kuki communities.
On his third day of a trip to Manipur to broker peace between warring communities, Shah visited Moreh in Tengnoupal district, followed by a tour to Kangpokpi district, and had wide ranging discussions with civil society organisations.
Amit Shah said, “We are committed to restoring peace in Manipur as early as possible and ensuring their (refugees) return to their homes.”
The home minister assured people that the supply of essential items in hill areas and helicopter services for emergency needs in Churachandpur, Moreh and Kangpokpi will be ensured.
Speaking to media after meeting Shah at Raj Bhavan, Advisor of Meitei Council Moreh Ningthoukhongjam Pulendro Singh said “we conveyed to him the need for our resettlement in Moreh and Churachandpur.”
The home minister is believed to have assured both a safe return home to all interally displaced persons as also return of those who fled to Myanmar, though officials said the latter may take some time.
Later, the home minister visited a relief camp in Imphal where the members of the Meitei community from hill districts were sheltering. “Our resolve remains focused on leading Manipur back to the track of peace and harmony once again at the earliest,” Shah said.
The Union Home Minister also held a security review meeting with top officials from Central and State forces in Imphal later in the evening.
He directed them to take stern and prompt actions against armed miscreants and recover looted weapons to bring back normalcy at the earliest, the release said.
Earlier he had held a similar meeting in Moreh.
He was accompanied by Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Director of the Intelligence Bureau Tapan Kumar Deka on the trip.
“He met the delegation of the hill tribal council, Kuki Students Organisation, Kuki Chiefs Association, Tamil Sangam, Gorkha Samaj and Manipuri Muslim council in Moreh. The delegates expressed strong support for the government’s initiatives to restore normalcy in the state,” the home ministry said in a statement.
