“Return of peace, stability very important”: Himanta Biswa Sarma after meeting Manipur CM

Amid the continuing ethnic strife in Manipur, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday met his Manipur counterpart, N Biren Singh.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting on Saturday, the Assam CM said he will send a report to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking further steps to restore peace in the restive Northeast state.

Sarma said, “For us, the return of peace and stability in Manipur is of utmost importance. I will report whatever I learned during my meeting with the Manipur CM today to the Union Home Minister and ask for further steps to ensure that peace returns to the state at the earliest. I couldn’t meet the Kuki leaders today. It was a goodwill visit.”

Earlier in the day, the central government constituted a Peace Committee in Manipur under the chairpersonship of the Governor. The panel is aimed at facilitating the peacemaking process among various ethnic groups in the state.

The committee was formed days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah had announced that a peace panel will be put together to ensure that normality is restored to Manipur at the earliest. He made the announcement after taking stock of the situation in Manipur during his four-day visit to the state between May 29 to June 1.

Manipur has been in the throes of ethnic violence for a month, in the wake of a directive of the high court asking the state government to consider including the Meitei community in the list of Scheduled Tribes (STs).

The Centre had to deploy paramilitary forces as violence escalated in the Northeast state.

Violence erupted on May 3 during a rally organised by the All Tribals Students Union (ATSU) to protest the demand for the inclusion of Meitei/Meetei in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category.