GUWAHATI/NEW DELHI: Legislators from Manipur’s Meitei, Kuki and Naga communities will sit down on Tuesday in Delhi for their first joint meeting since the eruption of ethnic violence in the state last year. The meeting, organised by the Centre, will be held on Tuesday.
A Meitei legislator said he welcomed the initiative and was looking forward to attending the meeting. “We were asked to sit together as part of a peace initiative,” he told this newspaper. “There will be legislators from Meitei, Kuki and Naga communities, and the state’s different regions will be well represented,” he said.
Some Meitei and Naga ministers and MLAs flew to Delhi from Imphal on Monday. Letpao Haokip, a Kuki-Zo minister, said all 10 Kuki-Zo legislators of Manipur have been invited for the meeting. “Some will definitely attend, but weare not sure how many,” he added. Meanwhile, an MLA camping in Delhi said 18 will attend the meeting – eight Meitei MLAs and five each from Kuki and Naga communities.
A government official said the talks are part of the Centre’s efforts to facilitate a dialogue between the warring communities. At least 250 people have been killed and over 60,000 displaced since ethnic violence erupted in Manipur in May last year.
“I don’t know the exact agenda of the meeting as of now,” Awangbow Newmai, a Naga minister who is attending the meeting, said. L Dikho, a Naga legislator said, “I will attend it and see how best we can take up the initiative.”
Union home ministry said on Monday a decision was yet to be taken on home minister Amit Shah’s participation.