Above 300 Students From Meghalaya Brought Back From Violence-Hit Manipur: Conrad Sangma

SHILLONG: On Tuesday, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma informed that more than 300 students from the state stranded in violence-hit Manipur have been brought back over the last few days.

Sangma also said a special flight on the Imphal-Shillong route had been arranged by his government on Monday to evacuate Meghalaya students stuck in the Northeastern state.

Manipur has been wracked by violence since the past week, leading to 60 deaths and thousands of people displaced.

“In the last few days, 300 plus students stuck in violence-hit Imphal valley in Manipur have been safely evacuated,” Sangma said.

The CM further added that the last batch of stranded students was brought here directly from Imphal on Monday on a special flight that was arranged for them.

A state government official, who was sent to Manipur to supervise the evacuation process, said “All students from Meghalaya, barring a few who opted to stay there, have been airlifted.”

On Monday, Sangma had said he would soon head for New Delhi to discuss with the Centre the means for restoring peace in violence-hit Manipur.

“I will go to Delhi soon. Whenever I get the opportunity I will definitely take up the matter to restore peace in Manipur. It is important to maintain peace in the north-east region,” Sangma had said then.

The Meghalaya CM also urged people in the violence-hit state of Manipur to maintain peace.

However, officials in Manipur said on Tuesday that the situation across Manipur is improving, with no fresh reports of any untoward incident in any region. Taking this into account, curfew has been relaxed in all the 11 districts where it was clamped earlier.

Also on Monday, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had said that 60 people were killed and 231 injured, while 1,700 houses and religious places were burnt down in the ethnic violence that rocked the state in the past few days.

Violent clashes had sparked out on Wednesday between tribal communities and people belonging to the majority Meitei community in Manipur, displacing thousands of people who had to flee to neighbouring states to escape the violence.

The clashes erupted after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised by ATSUM in the ten hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community’s demand for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list.

Meiteis comprise about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and a large number of them reside in the Imphal valley.

Tribals, including Nagas and Kukis, constitute another 40 per cent of the population and live mostly in the hill districts.

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