Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh is expected to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday, a government official said on Wednesday.
The meeting comes days ahead of the Assembly session in Manipur on August 29, a first since ethnic violence erupted in the State on May 3. The Assembly was last convened in March.
Mr. Singh will be accompanied by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president A. Sharda Devi. The Home Minister last met Mr. Singh in Delhi on June 25.
Mr. Shah is also likely to meet representatives of Meitei civil society organisations.
Earlier this week, Kuki groups re-imposed the blockade on National Highway-2 which connects Manipur capital Imphal to Dimapur in Nagaland and is key for supply of essentials to the valley areas where the Meitei people live.
A senior police official told The Hindu that though physical barriers were not there, the Kuki groups were not allowing any commercial goods vehicles to pass. The key stretch that leads to Imphal passes through the Kuki-dominated areas in the hills.
“We are patrolling and trying to open the highway, but there is a huge pile up of goods vehicles at several points,” said the official.
The blockade was lifted after a gap of 60 days on July 3 when Home Ministry officials held meetings with Kuki civil society groups and the Kuki insurgent groups part of the suspension of operation (SoO) pact with the government.
The blockades are back in retaliation to Meitei groups stopping medical supplies from Imphal to reach the hill areas.
Meanwhile, a delegation of the Communist Party of India (CPI), led by general secretary D. Raja, called on Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey at the Raj Bhavan in Imphal and apprised her of the present situation of internally displaced people staying in relief camps.
More than 50,000 people were displaced and more than 150 people have been killed in the ethnic violence between the tribal Kuki-Zo and the majority Meitei communities.
Eight weapons recovered
In the past 24 hours, the Manipur Police recovered eight weapons. Since the violence began, more than 4,000 weapons and lakhs of ammunition were looted from police armouries in Manipur. Just over 1,100 weapons have been recovered so far.
The Manipur Police tweeted on Wednesday that search operations were conducted by the security forces in the fringe and vulnerable areas of Imphal-East, Imphal-West, Bishnupur, Thoubal, Kakching, Kangpokpi and Tamenglong districts. Eight arms, seven pieces of ammunition and six bombs were recovered from Imphal-East and Imphal-West districts.
