IMPHAL: Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh appealed to the warring Kuki and Meitei communities for restoration of peace and normalcy in the state.
The Manipur chief minister also urged the people of the Kuki and Meitei communities in the state to adopt a method of “forgive and forget” to ensure that peace and normalcy return to the state.
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“Forgive and forget whatever happened,” the Manipur chief minister urged both the communities in his Independence Day speech.
He also appealed to the Kuki and Meitei communities in Manipur to shun violence, while calling for unity between the two peoples.
“I appeal to both the communities to shun violence and let’s stay together like we did before,” said Manipur CM Biren Singh.
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He also claimed foreign conspiracies as the main reason for the ethnic clashes and large-scale violence in Manipur over the past almost four months.
Ethnic clashes and large-scale violence in the Northeast state of Manipur is a result of “misunderstandings and conspiracies of foreigners”, said CM Biren Singh.
Also read: Foreign conspiracies behind Manipur violence, says CM Biren Singh
The Manipur chief minister claimed that vested interests are trying to destabilise the Northeast state.
“Violence will not bring anything. There were misunderstandings. So we can sit and discuss all the issues,” said Manipur CM Biren Singh.
He added: “This violence has killed over hundred people. Many have been rendered homeless, while properties worth crores of rupees have been destroyed.”
The Manipur chief minister further said that the state government is “working relentlessly” to resettle the people, who lost their homes in the violence.
He also said that the Manipur government’s “war against drugs” is not targeted towards any particular community of the state.
“Manipur has become the gateway to India for illegal drugs trade from the Golden Triangle,” said CM Biren Singh.
Golden Triangle is the name given to one of Asia’s two principal areas of illicit opium production.
Its geographical limits are the areas, in which the borders of China, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet at the confluence of the Ruak and the Mekong Rivers.
It may be mentioned here that Manipur has been on the boil since May 3 after ethnic clashes broke out between the Kuki and Meitei communities in the state followed by large-scale violence.
Over 150 people have lost their lives in the violence and thousands others were displaced in the nearly four-month long violence in Manipur.