The Indian Tribal
Guwahati/Imphal
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Sunday led a team of MLAs to the Raj Bhawan to meet Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya and submit a memorandum enlisting a list of demands in view of renewed violence in the State. They urged the Centre to take concrete steps on their demands.
Among others, handing over the control of the Unified Command that oversees security operations in the State bordering Myanmar tops the list of demands by the MLAs of the BJP and its allies. This, they contended, will ensure adequate powers and responsibilities to the elected state government as per the Constitution. The Unified Command oversees security operations in Manipur and is currently handled by a team of Union Home Ministry officials, the state security adviser and the Army.
Another key demand in the list is the scrapping of the tripartite Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement between the Centre, the Manipur government and Kuki insurgent groups. It will enable the security forces to revive and launch full-scale operations against Kuki insurgents. This was demanded earlier too by all the parties of the State.
In the last one week, suspected Kuki militants have launched drone and long range rocket attacks on Meitei habitations and targets wherein as many as 9 persons from the majority community have died. It is for the first time that drones and rockets have been used in the 17-month-long ethnic strife adding to the woes of residents and the security forces alike.
In the memorandum, the MLAs and the CM, who convened two Cabinet meetings in less than 24 hours, also urged the Centre to protect the State’s territorial integrity, completion of border fencing, a National Register of Citizens exercise and the deportation of all illegal immigrants.
Earlier this week, BJP MLA and son-in-law of N Biren Singh Rajkumar Imo Singh had written to Home Minister Amit Shah seeking the removal of central forces deployed in the State dubbing them as “mute spectators” and pointing out that the presence of 60000 central forces in Manipur is not yielding peace.
The latest move by the Biren Singh-led contingent also points to their growing restlessness and helplessness in view of their lack of powers to take counter-measures to control the unabated violence and more so because of the alarmingly new mode of attacks perpetuated by the Kuki insurgents. And this when there are BJP governments at both the State and the Centre.
“The situation is worst in Manipur. The recent attacks starting September 1 has changed. They are using sophisticated weapons, doing bombings. At this juncture, there is nothing to control by the State government. The power of the State has been totally ceased by the Central government. More or less, it is like enforcement of Article 355. There is no power of CM at present,” Manipur Congress President Keisham Meghachandra Singh said.
So far, the ethnic clashes in strife-torn Manipur has left over 200 people dead and displaced nearly 50,000 since May 3, last year.
