India’s Home Minister Amit Shah has called. On people involved in ethnic clashes in the northeastern state of Manipur to surrender.
According to the French news agency AFP, police stations were stormed and official guns were also taken away in the fighting during the last few days.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a visit to Manipur’s capital, Imphal. On Thursday, Amit Shah warned that strict action would be taken against those who did not surrender. Before a major police operation began on Friday.
Amit Shah, who is considered a close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Arrived earlier this week and announced that there would be an inquiry into the incidents of violence.
In mid-May, there were clashes between the Mete and Kuki ethnic groups. The majority of the Meti tribe living in the vicinity of Amphal are Hindus. While the majority of Koki are Christians who live in the nearby mountains.
At least 70 people were killed in the clashes, and thousands more were forced to flee their homes.
As the unrest escalated, the army was deployed in the affected areas.
Manipur Chief Minister
Manipur Chief Minister N. Byron Singh on Thursday also urged the people involved in the incidents to surrender themselves to the law and return the seized weapons.
Last week, local media quoted the chief minister as saying that the two rival groups used M16s and AK47s against each other.
India’s remote state of Manipur, which is located near Bangladesh, China, and Myanmar. Has been plagued by ethnic insurgencies in the past.
The recent fight was sparked by a move by the government to possibly give the Meti tribe a quota in government jobs. Which the Kuki group resented.
This raised fears that the Meti group might also be allowed to acquire land in areas currently reserved for Kuki and other groups.
