Manipur delegation to meet Home Ministry officials in Delhi today

Amid the logjam between the majority Meitei and tribal Kuki communities in strife-torn Manipur, a 19-member delegation from various civil society organisations is set to meet with senior officials from the Home Ministry on June 30 in New Delhi. The meeting aims to address critical issues such as the opening of national highways, territorial integrity, resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs), and security for farmers.

The meeting comes after a series of incidents in the recent past where farmers were objected to from cultivating their fields by ethnic groups, and of a village headman’s wife getting killed in a crossfire between security personnel and armed militants earlier this month.

After Manipur police had successfully thwarted a possible ethnic clash between Kukis and Meiteis over the issue of farmers being stopped from cultivating their fields in areas bordering regions dominated by both the communities, the issue of seeking protection for farmers had gained traction.

Additionally, a controversial incident in May, where security personnel forcibly removed the name of Manipur from a state transport corporation bus carrying media personnel and state officials, had led to a lot of brouhaha in the state.

In this scenario, this will be the third meeting between civil society groups and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials in the past few weeks.

Representatives from the Coordination Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), the Federation of Civil Society Organisations (FOCS) Manipur, and the All Manipur United Clubs’ Organisation (AMUCO) will jointly meet officials from the MHA on June 30 in New Delhi.

This will be the third round of talks between the MHA and from Manipur, and for the first time, AMUCO, COCOMI, and FOCS will attend the meeting together.