For the first time since ethnic violence started in Manipur nearly two years ago, the representatives of the warring Meitei and Kuki communities met face-to-face on Saturday as the Centre intensified efforts to restore peace and bring back normalcy in the northeastern state.
The meeting, which was held here at the aegis of the Union Home Ministry, discussed various aspects of the ongoing conflict and decided to continue their dialogue to find an amicable solution acceptable to people of the state, sources privy to the meeting said.
The sources said the meeting, which lasted for about five hours, was held as part of the central government's initiatives to resolve the ongoing conflict between the two communities, which began in May 2023 and had worsened ethnic tensions.
The meeting was aimed at enhancing trust and cooperation between the Meiteis and Kukis and finding a roadmap to restore peace and normalcy in Manipur, they said. The discussions also stressed on maintaining law and order and facilitating reconciliation between the two communities, the sources said said.
A six-member Meitei delegation comprising representatives from the All Manipur United Clubs' Organisation (AMUCO) and the Federation of Civil Society Organisations (FOCS) attended the meeting. The Kuki delegation comprised about nine representatives from the Kuki-Zo Council.
The central government interlocutor, A K Mishra, a retired special director of the Intelligence Bureau, and chief secretary of Manipur Prashant Kumar Singh attended the meeting.
This was the first direct meeting between the representatives of the two communities, the sources said.
A meeting of Kuki-Zo, Meitei and the Naga MLAs organised by the Union home ministry in October 2024 did not materialise as the legislators from the warring communities refused to sit in the same room.
At that time, they met central government interlocutors separately, even though the back-to-back meetings were held at the same venue in the national capital.
During a debate on Manipur in Lok Sabha on Thursday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the Ministry of Home Affairs had held 13 meetings with the representatives of the Meitei and the Kuki communities in the past.
"The Ministry of Home Affairs will soon convene a joint meeting," Shah had said, replying to a short debate in the lower House, which adopted a Statutory Resolution confirming the imposition of President's rule in Manipur.
The home minister also said that while the government is working to find a path to end the violence, the top priority is to establish peace.
Shah said the situation in Manipur is largely under control as there has been no death in the last four months but it can't be considered satisfactory as the displaced people are still living in relief camps.
He said both the communities should understand that dialogue was the only way forward and the central government was not in favour of continuing President's Rule in the state even for a single day.
President's rule in Manipur was imposed on February 13 after the then chief minister N Biren Singh resigned on February 9.
The state assembly, which has a tenure till 2027, has been put under suspended animation.
About 260 people have lost their lives ever since the ethnic violence broke out between the Imphal valley-based Meitei and neighbouring hills-based Kuki communities in May 2023. Several thousand arms were looted from different police stations across Manipur during the initial phase of the conflict.
Ajay Kumar Bhalla, who took charge as governor on January 3, has been meeting a cross-section of people and taking feedback from them on how to bring back normalcy in the state.
Bhalla, a former Union home secretary who had closely worked with Shah for five years till August 2024, was hand-picked by the Union home minister and is said to have been tasked with restoring peace in the restive state.
After the imposition of the President's rule, the governor took a number of steps to restore peace and bring back normalcy, including asking those who looted arms from security forces to surrender them.
The central government also endeavoured to open the state's road for normal traffic, though it did not fructify due to opposition from Kukis.
Travelling through areas inhabited by Meiteis or Kukis is completely prohibited for the other community.
While Kukis travel mostly through Mizoram to go outside the state, the Meiteis do not go to the hills dominated by the Kukis.
The violence in Manipur began after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' organised in the hill districts to protest against an order of the Manipur High Court on the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status.
Meanwhile, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an umbrella body of the Meitei civil society groups, accused the Centre of repeatedly employing symbolic gestures to create a facade of resolution, with no sincere or substantive steps to address the root causes of this crisis.
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