Manipur quietens but 50,648 people are still in relief camps

Imphal Valley organisations have decided to observe the International Day of Yoga on June 21 as a day of mourning

Locals at a medical camp organised by the Assam Rifles for people of violence-hit areas in Imphal, Manipur. | Photo Credit: PTI

Peace appeared to have returned to Manipur with no untoward incident reported from across the State in the past 48 hours.

The State spiralled into chaos following a ‘tribal solidarity march’ on May 3, claiming more than 100 lives and displacing thousands of people in clashes between the majority Meiteis and the Kuki-Zomi group of tribes.

Manipur’s Information and Public Relations Minister and government spokesperson, Sapam Ranjan, said the non-occurrence of any violence in the past couple of days pointed to peace and normalcy returning to the State.

“The violence has so far displaced 50,648 people who are currently lodged in 349 relief camps in the Imphal Valley and some hill districts,” he said.

Dr. Ranjan also said essential commodities were being brought to the State via National Highway 37 linking Imphal and southern Assam’s Barak Valley. “Till Saturday, 2,370 trucks carrying essential items arrived in the State,” he added.

Manipur’s main lifeline is the shorter National Highway 2 through Nagaland but various Kuki organisations have been blocking it.

Dr. Ranjan said the government was also trying to make the railway line functional for bringing essential goods by train. Half the distance of the 111 km Imphal-Jiribam (on the Assam-Manipur border) line has been completed.

The Minister further said about 990 firearms and 13,500 bullets looted from police establishments have been returned. Miscreants are said to have looted 4,000 guns and least 1 lakh bullets soon after violence broke out on May 3.

Meanwhile, the All Manipur Yoga Fraternity Union and other Imphal Valley-based organisations have decided to skip the International Day of Yoga on June 21 and observe it as a day of mourning for the lives lost across the State.

In New Delhi, the 10 Kuki MLAs from Manipur said they were trying to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to pursue their demand of a separate administration for the Kuki-Zomi people.

The Meiteis and Nagas — the two other major ethnic groups — are against such an arrangement.