GUWAHATI: At least 60 people, including women, have been killed and 231 people injured while 1,700 houses have been burned down in the ethnic violence in Manipur since May 3, Chief Minister N Biren Singh said on Monday.
Addressing a press conference in the state capital Imphal, he described the unrest witnessed by Manipur as "very unfortunate."
Singh said a high-level inquiry would be conducted at the earliest to fix responsibility on the persons and groups who/which instigated the violence and the government servants who abdicated responsibility.
He said over 30,000 people were affected by the violence and 20,000 of them evacuated. The people evacuated included 1,593 from outside the state, mostly students.
Singh appealed to people not to hinder the process of moving the stranded people to safety. He said they were being provided with the best possible care and support. He said all efforts were being made to protect the lives and property of people without any discrimination.
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Altogether 1,041 weapons and 7,460 live cartridges were looted by the miscreants from a police establishment during the violence. Singh said 214 weapons and 4,273 bullets were recovered.
He appealed to the miscreants to surrender the arms and ammunition within the next 48 hours. He said if they do so, they will be exempted from legal procedures.
“The victims are all innocent people. Government machinery is working round-the-clock to resolve the crisis. I appeal to people to extend their cooperation and not to spread or believe in unfounded, unverified and baseless rumours,” Singh said.
The state government announced ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of kin of those killed, Rs 2 lakh to those who suffered grievous injuries and Rs 25,000 to those who sustained non-grievous injuries.
The government would also offer financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh each to families whose houses were torched after an assessment.
On May 3, unprecedented violent clashes, attacks and arson broke out at various places during a 'Tribal Solidarity March' called by the All Tribal Students' Union of Manipur (ATSUM) to oppose the demand for inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe category.
Acting on a writ petition filed by the Meetei (Meitei) Trade Union, the Manipur High Court's acting Chief Justice M.V. Muralidaran on April 19 had directed the state government to submit the recommendation for inclusion of Meitei (Meetei) community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list to the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry.
In view of the prevailing unrest in Manipur, the Central government has already imposed Article 355 in the state to bring the situation under control. Article 355 is part of emergency provisions contained in the Constitution that empowers the Centre to take all necessary steps to protect a state against internal disturbances or external aggression.
(With inputs from IANS.)