Manipur bodies urge CM to restore law and order

IMPHAL — The Meetei bodies namely World Meetei Council (WMC), Meetei Yaipha Lup (Europe) and Global Manipur Federation (GMF) have submitted a joint memorandum to Manipur Chief Minister, N Biren Singh, urging him to reinstate law and order in the state, open national highways, initiate robust action to find the missing persons immediately and coordinate a concerted effort to destroy illegal poppy plantations.

Sharing the key points of the joint memorandum during a press conference in Imphal on Tuesday, WMC chairman, Heigrujam Nabashyam, said the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement signed between the Kuki militants and central government ends in February this year and it should not be allowed to extend further.

Around 20 Kuki militant groups in Manipur are under SoO Agreement with the Government of India since 2008 onwards.

He urged the state government to send the ethnographic and socio-economic status report of the Meeteis to the centre before the parliamentary elections.

“We urge the government to provide full support to the state police force in Moreh in terms of logistics and manpower to bolster their efforts in ending the lawlessness on Moreh,” says the joint memorandum of WMC, MYL-Europe and GMF.

“The government must arrange the deployment of the state security at strategic locations and vulnerable areas and provide them, adequate materials and resources,” it added.

Moreh is border town located about 110 km south of Imphal in Manipur’s Tengnoupal district. The border town has been witnessing violent incidents in the recent past. 

The joint memorandum of the three Meetei bodies mentioned also urged the government to ‘urgently send the ethnographic and socio-economic status report of the Meeteis to the central government in light of the Scheduled Tribe demand, which would showcase the harsh reality of the socio-economic backwardness common people have to endure on a day today basis as part of a trust building measure.’

Manipur has been witnessing ethnic conflict between two communities since the first week of May last year in which more than 200 people were killed and nearly 50,000 people were displaced.