Centre holds back-door talks with Kuki groups

New Delhi: The Central government has assured Kuki groups that those guilty of committing violence in Manipur will face the law, but made it clear that a political solution can only be achieved after normalcy returns in the state, according to The Hindu.

Members of the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum and the Manipur Tribal Forum Delhi met Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director Tapan Kumar Deka on July 7 at North Block, the Home Ministry’s offices in the Capital.

The meeting is among a series of back-channel talks that the Centre is pursuing with civil society groups from both the Kuki and Meitei communities, who have been embroiled in ethnic violence since May 3, in which more than 140 people have been killed and nearly 60,000 displaced. A peace committee to be headed by the Manipur Governor, which was announced by Home minister Amit Shah on June 1, is yet to take-off.

On Friday, three people were killed in fresh violence in Bishnupur district. Suspected armed miscreants fired toward the Phougakchao Ikhai Awang Leikai and Kwakta area around 1 am on Friday, killing one civilian and injuring another.

“However, police and security forces rushed and repelled the miscreants. It is learnt that five suspected armed miscreants sustained bullet injuries, out of which two succumbed to their injuries,” police said.