New Delhi: The three-member special envoy team appointed by Home Minister Amit Shah to look into the Manipur situation will submit its report to the Home Ministry by this week, sources in the government said. Ever since the team led by former special director in the IB AK Mishra, Mandeep Singh Tuli (Joint Director of IB), and Rajesh Kumble (Joint Director of IB, Imphal) reached Imphal on Monday, they had interacted with different communities of Manipur.
Besides assessing the entire situation of the state, according to the sources, the team will hold talks with all stakeholders about the Home Ministry’s strategy to end the Free Movement Regime (FMR). Under the FMR, citizens of India or Myanmar, who are residents of any area within 16 km on either side of the Indo-Myanmar border can cross the international border and can stay up to two weeks per visit.
The formation of the Home Ministry’s team also assumes significance following the fact that as many as 35 Legislators from Manipur on Sunday appealed to Home Minister Amit Shah not to extend the Suspension of Operation (SoO) with armed militant groups expiring in February. The MLAs accused the militant groups of their involvement in the ongoing violence in the state.
The legislators, who met on Sunday, unanimously decided to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this direction. “We have already sent our resolution to Home Minister Amit Shah demanding the abrogation of SoO with militant groups. They have constantly violated ground rules, there should be no extension of such agreement with other groups beyond the date of the expiry of such agreement,” said BJP MLA Rajkumar Imo Singh.
The SoO with different Kuki militant groups will expire on February 29. “We want complete disarmament of such illegal weapons possessed by the armed miscreants across the state,” he said. Singh said that those central security forces especially Assam Rifles, who remained as “mute spectators” in vulnerable areas like Moreh, Bishnupur where police forces have been attacked and killed where civilians have been killed should be replaced."
“They are here to save lives and property and if they cannot, they should be held accountable,” he said. Meanwhile, 1,000 additional security personnel are strategically being stationed in sensitive areas of the state following fresh incidents of violence that were registered in the State.
Read more: Manipur: 3 BSF Personnel Sustain Bullet Injuries In Mob Attack In Thoubal, Curfew Imposed
