Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma held a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and urged him to hold talks with the tribal leaders of the Kuki-Zo community in Manipur, as part of the efforts to resolve the ethnic crisis prevailing in the neighbouring state, officials said.
An official of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) in Aizawl said that the Mizoram CM held a meeting with the Union Home Minister at the latter’s residence on Thursday and discussed the ethnic strife in Manipur.
“Lalduhoma requested HM Shah to arrange a meeting between officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the leaders of Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), which represents all tribal communities in Manipur,” the official added.
The Mizoram Chief Minister also informed Union Home Minister Shah that he was invited by his Manipur counterpart, N. Biren Singh, to visit Imphal and expressed his willingness to accept the invitation.
Meanwhile, an official of the Manipur CMO said in Imphal that on the sidelines of the NITI Aayog meeting in New Delhi last week, Chief Minister Biren Singh discussed various matters concerning the northeast region with the Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma and Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio.
The CMO official in Aizawl said that the Mizoram CM also expressed gratitude to Union Home Minister Shah for sanctioning Rs 10 crore for the displaced people sheltered in Mizoram.
More than 35,120 refugees from Myanmar took shelter in Mizoram after the military takeover in the conflict-ridden country in February 2021 while more than 2,000 Bangladeshi tribals have been staying in Mizoram since November 2022.
At present, there were 4,215 internally displaced people (IDPs) from Manipur taking shelter in several districts of Mizoram after the ethnic violence broke out in the neighbouring state in May last year.
At the peak of the Manipur ethnic turmoil, more than 12,000 IDPs from Manipur were taking refuge in Mizoram, though many have since returned to their native state.
The Mizoram CMO official said that during their discussion, the Union Home Minister informed Mizoram CM Lalduhoma that the Special Central Team for Cyclone Remal had already submitted their reports and assistance for it is expected soon.
