A delegation comprising representatives of various political parties from Manipur will meet Union home minister Amit Shah in Guwahati on Thursday to apprise him of the ongoing unrest back home that found a mention at the United Nations on Wednesday.
Sources said the delegation, led by Assembly Speaker T. Satyabrata Singh, will have representatives from the ruling BJP, NPF and NPP.
The team has reached Guwahati and will also submit a memorandum to Shah, they added. Shah will be in Guwahati to attend two official events on Wednesday, one of which includes the distribution of about 44,703 appointment letters by the state government.
The other event involves the laying of the foundation stone of the National Forensic Sciences University at Changsari. It will be the ninth such institute in India.
No central minister or ruling BJP leader from outside the state has visited Manipur since violence erupted on May 3 following a protest rally in the 10 hill districts opposing the demand for Scheduled Tribe status by the majority Meiteis, mostly living in the valley.
Clashes between the Meiteis and the Kukis have left 75 dead and over 1,700 houses/ structures destroyed and affected over 45,000 people.
This is the second time a delegation from Manipur is meeting Shah. Chief minister Biren Singh had led a delegation of BJP leaders and ministers to meet him in New Delhi on May 14.
On Wednesday, UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Türk touched upon the unrest in Manipur where the situation continued to remain volatile even after 22 days despite heavy deployment of security personnel.
In a statement issued by the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Turk is quoted as saying: “ ...The recent violence in Manipur, Northeast India, revealed the underlying tensions between different ethnic and indigenous groups.”
“I urge the authorities to respond to the situation quickly, including by investigating and addressing root causes of the violence in line with their international human rights obligations.”
Turk was addressing a media conference at the UN in Geneva on the occasion of the year-long commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The situation remained volatile in Manipur with one person losing his life in firing by suspected militants in Bishnupur district and the village residence of a cabinet minister, K. Govindas, vandalised in the same district.
Incidents of arson were reported from Bishnupur. Protests took place on Tiddim Road. The curfew relaxation has been suspended in Bishnupur, Imphal East and Imphal West.
