10 Manipur tribal MLAs urge Centre to tell judicial commission to expedite its probe into ethnic violence

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Imphal, Aug 22 (IANS) Ten Kuki-Zo tribal MLAs, who, along with all the leading organisations of the community, have been demanding a separate administration or a Union Territory for the tribals in Manipur, on Thursday urged the Central government to ask the judicial commission to expedite its probe of the ethnic violence in the northeastern state.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, in June last year, constituted the three-member Commission of Inquiry headed by Gauhati High Court's former Chief Justice Ajai Lamba (retd) to probe the ethnic violence in Manipur, which has been devastated by the ethnic riot between Meitei and Kuki-Zo tribals since May 3 last year.

The 10 Kuki-Zo tribal legislators, seven of them belonging to the ruling BJP, in a joint statement said that the judicial commission must expedite its investigation process and identify the guilty.

Demanding debarring Chief Minister N Biren Singh from his post, the MLAs, including two ministers, said: "We once again appeal to the government of India to expedite our demand for separate administration in the form of UT with a legislature, as that alone is the path to lasting peace in the region."

Meanwhile, the Manipur government, in a statement, said that except for some very low-scale sporadic incidents, the law and order situation in the state has improved in the last 3-4 months with relentless efforts of the state and Central governments and there is no large-scale confrontation.

In this regard, the state government appreciates the efforts by security agencies including both Central and state forces, it said.

The statement said that unfortunately, the state government had to issue a press release on August 7 on the viral doctored audio clips, claimed to be of the Chief Minister and meant to incite communal violence and derail various peace initiatives being started by both state and Central governments at multiple levels.

Accordingly, an FIR was registered at the Cyber Crime police station on August 7 in this regard and an investigation is going on. The contents of the doctored clips have been found widely circulating through social media and a section of media, the statement said, urging the people not to rely on such "unfounded contents circulating in social media and news reports and also to refrain from involvement in spreading such false and fabricated information through any media".

"Anybody without exception shall be prosecuted under relevant provisions of laws of the land, if found involved in spreading such unfounded and baseless contents through any media or posting and sharing of such contents, which will escalate law and order issues in the state and derail the efforts put so far toward bring normalcy and peace in the state," the statement said.

--IANS

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