Meitei, Kuki & Naga MLAs meet in Delhi, discuss peace

NEW DELHI: Around a score MLAs belonging to the Manipur 's Meitei and Kuki communities, caught in a violent ethnic conflict for the past one-and-a-half years, met here on Tuesday - the first such engagement since ethnic violence broke out in the state in May 2023 - to discuss their concerns and resolved to appeal to the people of Manipur to give up violence and prevent further loss of innocent lives.

BJP MP Sambit Patra, Centre's interlocutor A K Mishra and three MLAs from the Naga community were present at the meeting convened by ministry of home affairs as part of its efforts to iron out differences between the Meiteis and Kukis, and find a peaceful solution to the crisis.

Though home minister Amit Shah and Manipur CM N Biren Singh were not part of the meeting, it comes weeks after the latter shared at a press conference here on Sept 18 that the Centre was talking to both Meitei and Kuki communities of Manipur to resolve the ethnic tensions.

"This is just the beginning. There will be more rounds of meetings in the days to come," a source told TOI. "We were not expecting a miracle at the first meeting but it is an achievement that we could bring MLAs of the two communities under the same roof," news agency PTI quoted another source as saying.