Imphal/Guwahati
A day after holding back-to-back meetings with security officials, civil society members, political and women organisation leaders, Home Minister Amit Shah visited the border town of Moreh in the Tengnoupal district and the Kangpokpi district.
The two districts have been hit badly by the ethnic violence that started earlier this month and that resulted in an official death toll of about 80 with 300 others injured.
Shah has also met the members of the families that have been affected by the violence even as a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and a government job to the next of kin of the victims have been announced.
“Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri @AmitShah met with a Kuki delegation in Moreh, Manipur, today,” the Union Home Ministry spokesperson tweeted adding he also met with the representatives of different communities including the handful of Tamil traders who live in Moreh.
Shah himself tweeted too stating, “Held a meeting with the delegations of Kuki and other communities at Moreh. They expressed strong support for the government’s initiatives to restore normalcy in Manipur.”
Shah also held a security review meeting at Moreh in Tengnoupal district with the officials from various central and state forces. “Took stock of the security situation with senior officials in Moreh (Manipur),” Shah tweeted.
Shah is accompanied by Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Director of the Intelligence Bureau Tapan Kumar Deka on the trip. Chief Minister N Biren Singh, however, was not present at these meetings.
In his first day in troubled Manipur seeking a lasting peace, Shah had on Tuesday met a cross-section of Kuki and Meitei leaders, besides top security officers to seek a solution to the spate of ethnic clashes that have rocked the state. He also held a meeting with leaders of different political parties.
Ethnic clashes broke out in the state nearly a month ago after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.