JOIN USFresh Manipur violence prompts MHA peace panel; CM in it
Amid a resurgence of violence in Manipur, the Union Government on Saturday announced the setting up of a Peace Committee in the northeastern state to facilitate the peacemaking process among various ethnic groups.
Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey will head the panel which has Chief Minister N Biren Singh, a few Ministers in Manipur, MPs, MLAs and leaders from different political parties. The committee will also include former civil servants, educationists, litterateurs, artists, social workers and representatives of different ethnic groups.
According to an official statement, the mandate of the Committee will be to facilitate the peace-making process among various ethnic groups of the state, including peaceful dialogue and negotiations between conflicting parties and groups.
The panel, which is set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), is tasked with strengthening "social cohesiveness, mutual understanding and facilitating cordial communication between various ethnic groups".
The constitution of the Peace Committee came close on the heels of CBI registering six cases following the violence that started on May 3 on the heels of a demand by Mieties for ST status.
Union Home Minister Amit visited Manipur between May 29 and June 1 and announced the constitution of the Peace Committee after taking stock of the situation.
Earlier on June 4, the union government had set up a three-member Commission of Inquiry under former Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court Ajai Lamba to investigate the recent violence. The COI would probe the causes and spread of the violence and riots targeting members of different communities since May 3.
The COI investigation also includes the sequence of events leading to, and all the facts relating to violence, lapses or dereliction of duty on the part of any of the responsible authorities or individuals and the adequacy of the administrative measures taken to prevent and deal with the violence and riots.