New Delhi: Over a fortnight after Manipur was brought under President’s Rule, Union home minister Amit Shah held the first “high-level meeting” in New Delhi on the law and order situation in the north-eastern state with top security officials and governor Ajay Bhalla.
News reports said Bhalla left Imphal for Delhi on February 27 along with a team of key state officials including chief secretary P.K. Singh.
Besides senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs led by the Union home secretary, the meeting on Saturday (March 1) was attended by the director of the Intelligence Bureau, the deputy chief of army staff, the army commander of the Eastern Command, as well as the directors general of the Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force and Assam Rifles.
According to the ministry, Shah “directed that free movement … be ensured for people on all roads in Manipur from March 8, 2025.”
He also “directed that strict action should be taken against anyone attempting to create obstructions”.
In the last 21 months of violence in Manipur, the movement of people and goods from one part of the border state to the other has been hugely affected.
The state had been virtually divided into two based on ethnic identities.
Since the state came under President’s Rule on February 13, security forces have been destroying bunkers put up by various communities in their residential areas both in the hill and the valley districts.
In order to recover the thousands of arms and ammunition looted from police armouries in the valley districts by mobs belonging to the Meitei community in 2023, Bhalla has issued a public notice asking those who are in possession of such arms and ammunition to return them to the state police by March 6.
So far, various police stations across six districts of the state have received a number of looted arms and ammunition.
More importantly, Bhalla also held a meeting with the Arambai Tenggol this past week at the Raj Bhavan, leading the controversial radical group to surrender a large amount of the weapons it has hoarded.
The Arambai Tenggol is accused of leading attacks on Kuki-Zo people in the valley areas, including in the state capital Imphal. The removal of former chief minister N. Biren Singh has put the armed group from the Meitei community on shaky grounds.
According to a press note issued by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) after the March 1 meeting in New Delhi, Shah has also “directed that the fencing work on both sides of the designated entry points along Manipur’s international border [with Myanmar] should be completed at the earliest.”
While the state’s Meitei community is in support of the border fencing, the Nagas and the Kuki-Zo communities of Manipur and other neighbouring states that share an international border with Myanmar are opposed to it on the grounds that they share kinship ties with people on the other side of the international boundary.
The PIB press note also quoted Shah as instructing security officials “to make Manipur drug-free” and that “the entire network involved in the drug trade should be dismantled.”
Reacting to the high-level meeting, the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR) in a press note appreciated the “pro-active steps” by Shah and Bhalla to restore peace in the state, adding that “any attempt for peace forgoing the deliverance of justice [to the Kuki-Zo community] will be a futile attempt.”
KOHUR also said, “The surrender of looted firearms, though seemingly a step in the right direction, has been executed in a manner that sets a dangerous precedent. The Meitei community looted large portions of state armouries, which were then used to carry out ethnic cleansing. Yet, those responsible continue to roam free without consequences.”
