In a significant development in strife-torn Manipur, a section of MLAs of the ruling BJP and its allies has requested the Centre to take concrete steps that they have suggested in an eight-point memorandum, including handing over control of the Unified Command that oversees security operations in the state bordering Myanmar, sources have said. The Unified Command is currently handled by a security adviser.
Sources have said that Chief Minister N Biren Singh and a section of MLAs from the ruling alliance have submitted a list of demands to Governor Lakshman Acharya. On this list is a demand for "adequate powers and responsibilities to the elected state government as per the Constitution by handing over the Unified Command", a source told NDTV.
Another key demand in the list is the scrapping of the tripartite Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement between the Centre, the state government and Kuki insurgent groups to enable security forces to crack down hard. In January this year, an all-party meeting in Manipur had asked the Centre and the state government to scrap the agreement so that security forces can launch full-scale operations against Kuki insurgents.
The list also calls upon the Centre to ensure peace in the state that is suffering due to a cycle of violence following ethnic classes in May last year. The Chief Minister and some of the ruling alliance MLAs have also demanded protection of the state's territorial integrity, completion of border fencing, a National Register of Citizens exercise and the deportation of all illegal immigrants, the sources said.
Violence escalated in the last six days after suspected Kuki insurgents launched weaponised drones in Imphal West district, killing a person. A woman was also shot dead by suspected Kuki insurgents. On Friday, a rocket attack by Kuki insurgents from the hills killed an elderly man from the Meitei community in Moirang town, the police had said.
The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.
The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar's Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.
