NEW DELHI: The stage is set for the all-party meeting convened by Union Home Minister Amit Shah tomorrow to discuss ways and means to bring peace in violence-hit Manipur. The government is preparing to formally share with participating leaders the details of the initiatives and measures taken by the Centre and the state so far to deal with the situation.
All important political parties have been invited to attend the deliberations at the meeting and their views would be sought in an effort to arrive at a consensus on further measures to be taken to bring peace in the troubled state, sources said.
As demanded earlier by the Congress, leaders of Opposition parties are likely to reiterate and ask for an all-party delegation to Manipur to engage with people of the state from all sides in an effort to bring peace.
So far, only the TMC and the SP have confirmed their participation in the meeting. While Derek O’Brien will be representing the former, Ram Gopal Yadav will present the SP during the deliberations.
Besides security measures, including the deployment of around 30,000 central security personnel comprising around eight battalions of Central Armed Police Forces, 80 columns of the Army and 67 of the Assam Rifles, the government has taken several other peace initiatives, officials said.
After Shah’s four-day (May 29-June 1) visit to Manipur, the Centre had set up a commission of inquiry, headed by former Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Ajai Lamba, to probe the violence in the state.
Later, the Centre also constituted a peace committee in the state headed by Governor Anusuiya Uikey to facilitate peace process among various ethnic groups and initiate dialogue between the conflicting parties. But office-bearers of several civil society groups have so far refused to be part of the committee for different reasons. The Centre had also approved Rs 101.75-crore relief package for the displaced people in the state.