Manipur: Amit Shah Calls for All-Party Meeting in Delhi; 3 Children Hurt in IED Blast

 Kuki and Meitei residents in the US, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is currently, will hold demonstrations separately in protest at Washington D.C.

A photo, purportedly of the IED blast site in Manipur's Bishnupur, circulating on Twitter

The Wire, 22 June 2023, New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah has convened an all-party meeting on June 24 to discuss ethnic violence in Manipur. The meeting will take place in New Delhi.

This effort comes after three delegations of leaders, including two from the Bharatiya Janata Party – which is in power at both the Union government and the state – failed to get an audience with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Manipur has been on the boil since May 3 and residents of the state have repeatedly requested the Union government to take a more active role in quelling the violence.

As PM Modi, who has been silent on the Manipur question so far, visits the US, Kuki and Meitei residents in the country will hold demonstrations separately in protest at Washington D.C., Deccan Herald has reported. The North American Manipur Tribal Association, comprising Kuki-Zomi people, and the Association of Meiteis in the Americas, both spoke to the paper against the violence and the state of law and order in the state.

The New Indian Express has reported how protesters under the organisation Thoubal Apunba Lup in Manipur’s Thoubal district boycotted International Yoga Day and burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was observing the day at the UN.

The home ministry spokesperson’s handle tweeted late on June 21 that the “situation in Manipur” will be discussed in the meeting.

On the same day, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who heads the North East Democratic Alliance of the BJP, met Shah.

On the same day, an IED blast in Bishnupur district injured an eight-year-old boy and two teenagers, Times of India has reported. There was also “indiscriminate” firing in two Kangpokpi district villages.

Meanwhile, sporadic violence continues in the state, where opposition leaders and sections of residents have been vocal in their insistence that chief minister N. Biren Singh has been unable to handle the violence.

Biren has blamed “Myanmarese infiltrators” for the continued violence. A report on Times of India notes that an official survey by the state government – submitted on June 6, amidst the violence – had identified 2,000 Myanmar immigrants living illegally in four districts in the state. People in Myanmar have been fleeing a repressive junta and crossing over into border Indian states. It is unclear how the report, submitted by the IGP of intelligence narcotics and border affairs aims to prove that the ethnic violence in the state was perpetrated by those displaced from Myanmar.

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has released a video message, urging for peace in Manipur.

“For nearly 50 days, we have witnessed a great human tragedy unfolding in Manipur. The unprecedented violence that has devastated the lives of people in your state and uprooted thousands, has left a deep wound in the conscience of our nation,” she said.