All efforts being made to restore peace, no death since June 13: Amit Shah

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been constantly monitoring the Manipur situation since day one and “guiding us with full sensitivity” to find a solution to the problem, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said at an all-party meeting held on Saturday.

Sources said Shah told the meeting that all efforts are being made to restore peace in Manipur and the situation is slowly returning to normal. He also said that not a single person has died since June 13 in violence in the state.

The home minister solicited cooperation of all the political parties to help defuse the situation and restore peace and trust among various communities in Manipur at the earliest.

So far, 1,800 looted weapons have been surrendered.

Eighteen political parties including the BJP and four MPs from northeast and two chief ministers from the region attended the meeting.

The home minister said all political parties sensitively and apolitically gave their suggestions for restoration of peace in Manipur and the Central government will consider them with an open mind.

The opposition parties have been critical of the Centre’s handling of the Manipur situation and have questioned the prime minister’s “silence” on the issue.

The meeting with leaders of various political parties was convened in New Delhi to discuss the situation in Manipur.

Shah told the meeting the Modi government is committed to solve the Manipur problem by taking everyone together, sources said.

The priority of the Modi government is that no more lives should be lost due to violence in the state, he said.

The home minister said 36,000 security personnel including 40 IPS officers have been deployed in Manipur, while 20 medical teams have also been sent, according to the sources.

The supply of all essential items including medicines is being ensured, he said.

Fencing work on the 10 km of Myanmar-Manipur border has been completed, while tendering exercise for 80 km of the border fencing has been completed and a survey of the remaining border is underway, Shah told the meeting.

He expressed gratitude on behalf of Prime Minister Modi and the government to all political parties for giving “useful suggestions” to resolve the Manipur issue.

Meanwhile, sources also said that several Opposition parties sought an all-party delegation visit to the northeastern state, but the government remained non-committal.

While the Congress demanded immediate sacking of Chief Minister N Biren Singh, the Samajwadi Party and a few others sought imposition of President’s rule in the state that has witnessed sporadic violence since May 3. Nearly 120 people have lost their lives and over 3,000 have been injured since the ethnic violence broke out in the state. Those who attended the meeting included BJP president J P Nadda, former Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh (Congress), Derek O’Brien (TMC), Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Singh (NPP), Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang (Sikkim Krantikari Morcha), Birendra Prasad Baishya (Asom Gana Parishad), M Thambi Durai (AIADMK), Tiruchi Siva (DMK), Pinaki Misra (BJD), Sanjay Singh (AAP), Manoj Jha (RJD) and Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena). “After the meeting of our leaders in Patna, within 24 hours the Opposition spoke in one united voice for Manipur, the Northeast and India,” O’Brien told reporters after the three-hour-long meeting held at the Parliament House complex. The Trinamool Congress demanded an all-party delegation be sent to the violence-hit state within a week as it questioned the government’s handling of the situation, wondering if the government was “trying to turn Manipur into Kashmir”.

Ibobi Singh later told reporters that peace was not possible under the present state government headed Chief Minister N Biren Singh. He demanded Singh’s immediate replacement.

Asked whether the home minister presented a roadmap for peace, he replied in the negative.

Union ministers Pralhad Joshi, Nityanand Rai and Ajay Kumar Mishra, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, and Director of Intelligence Bureau Tapan Deka also attended the meeting.

Violent clashes broke out in Manipur after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts on May 3 to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Shah visited the state for four days last month and met a cross section of people in his efforts to bring back peace in the northeastern state.