Manipur situation complex but gradually improving: CM Biren Singh

Imphal (The Uttam Hindu): Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Monday said that even as the situation in his state was complex, it has been gradually improving, adding that it will take time to restore complete normalcy and peace.

After attending the passing out parade of the newly recruited Manipur police personnel at Lachit Barphukan Police Academy at Dergaon in Assam's Golaghat district, the Chief Minister said that gradually, the situation in Manipur is improving with most of the districts remaining incident free for the past several months. “The situation in Manipur is complex. It will take time to restore complete normalcy in Manipur. The state and Central security forces along with the civil administration are doing their best to maintain the violence-free situation and to deliver services to the people,” Biren Singh told the media.

In all, 1,984 recruits of Manipur police took part in training at the Lachit Barphukan Police Academy in January this year and 1,946 recruits successfully completed their training. Assam Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya, who is also holding the additional gubernatorial charge of Manipur, also attended the passing out parade. The Chief Minister said that since the situation in Manipur is not conducive, he earlier approached Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to provide training to the new recruits of Manipur police personnel and Sarma immediately agreed.

"Assam and Manipur's old relationship is once again visible,” he said, adding: “I am extremely grateful to Assam Chief Minister, his colleagues in the government and the DGP G.P Singh and other senior officials of the state." To a question about the infiltrators from Bangladesh, Biren Singh said that problems of infiltration from Bangladesh and Myanmar are being faced not only by Manipur but also Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and other northeastern states. “We have to jointly deal with the infiltration issue,” he said, adding that among the new recruits police personnel there are people belonging to the Meitei, Kuki-Zo and Naga community and the government would try to keep them as a united team without dividing them on ethnic lines.

According to officials, out of the 1,946 recruits, caste distribution is diverse with 62 per cent being non-tribal Meiteis, 12 per cent are tribal Kuki-Zo and the remaining 26 per cent belonging to Naga and other tribes. The ethnic violence between the non-tribals Meiteis and tribal Kuki-Zo broke out in Manipur on May 3 last year after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. According to police, 258 people, including militants, have been killed and over 2,000 injured during the 19 months of ethnic hostilities.