Union Home Minister Amit Shah ordered the security forces to make sure that “no further incidents of violence should take place in the state” on Monday and stated that the government will speak with both Meiteis and Kukis to try to heal the ethnic rift in Manipur as soon as possible.
The home minister asked for “strategic deployment of the central forces to restore peace and tranquillity in Manipur”, while adding that forces will be increased, if required.
Shah made the remarks while chairing the first high-level meeting on Manipur by the central government after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was re-elected to power earlier this month.
It was attended by the Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Pande, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla, Director – Intelligence Bureau (IB) Tapan Deka, Army chief designate Lt. General Upendra Dwivedi, security advisor to the government of Manipur, Kuldiep Singh, director general of Assam Rifles Lt Gen P C Nair, chief secretary of Manipur Vineet Joshi, director general of police (DGP) Rajiv Singh, and senior officials of the army and state police.
But N Biren Singh, the chief minister, was absent from the important gathering.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement that Shah “did a holistic review of the security situation in Manipur and directed to ensure that no further incident of violence take place in Manipur” during the two-hour meeting.
