Home Minister Amit Shah called a conferral of senior officials in Delhi on Sunday, said sources, in the wake of escalating crisis in Manipur – the latest trigger being the recovery of six bodies of people believed to have been kidnapped by insurgents.
Mr Shah held the meeting soon after he returned from Maharashtra after cancelling his election rallies there.
The meeting focused on reviewing the security situation in Manipur, the sources said. Another meeting with senior officials at the Ministry of Home Affairs has been scheduled for tomorrow.
In another setback, the National People’s Party (NPP) withdrew support to the BJP-led government in violence-hit Manipur, claiming that the N Biren Singh dispensation has “completely failed to resolve the crisis and restore normalcy” in the northeastern state. The NPP has 7 MLAs in the 60-member Manipur assembly.
Manipur has been rocked by periodic clashes for more than 18 months between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community, dividing the state into ethnic enclaves.
The bodies – three of which were were pulled from a river in Jiribam on Friday while three more were found on Saturday – are suspected to be of those belonging to the Meitei community who went missing in Jiribam district after a gunfight between Kuki insurgents and Manipur police last week.
News of the discovery provoked irate mobs to attack the homes of state ministers. Protesters also burned tyres and blocked roads in the capital city of Imphal on Saturday.
In response, the state government said a curfew was in effect in part of the city due to the “developing law and order situation”.
The state’s home ministry also ordered all internet and mobile data services in Manipur to be shut off for two days in order to bring the latest unrest under control.
“Anti-social elements might use social media extensively for transmission of images, hate speech and hate video messages inciting the passions of the public which might have serious repercussions for the law and order situation,” a notice said.
Internet services were shut down for months in Manipur last year during an outbreak of violence which displaced around 60,000 people from their homes, according to government figures.
The Centre had on Thursday reimposed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in Manipur’s six police station areas, including the violence-hit Jiribam.
Thousands of the state’s residents are living in emergency shelters, still unable to return home due to ongoing tensions.
