Chief minister of India’s Manipur state apologises for ethnic unrest

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BENGALURU (Reuters) – The chief minister of India’s northeastern state of Manipur apologised on Tuesday for months of ethnic unrest that has killed at least 250 people and prompted criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal government.

The strife between the majority Meitei and the tribal Kuki communities in the state of 3.2 million people broke out in May 2023 and has displaced 60,000 people. Despite peace efforts, many Kukis and Meiteis have moved out of ethnically mixed areas.

Violence erupted after a court ordered the state government to consider extending the special economic benefits and quotas in government jobs and education enjoyed by the Kuki people to the Meitei population as well.

“This entire year has been very unfortunate,” Singh told reporters in the state capital Imphal.

“I want to say sorry to the people of the state for what’s happening … many people lost their loved ones. Many people left their homes. I feel regret, I apologise.”

Sporadic attacks and killings continue to be reported, but Singh said peace efforts had made progress in recent months, and he believed normality would return in the new year.

Manipur’s two largest ethnic groups are in effect competing for land, jobs and political clout, with large quantities of weapons in circulation, including automatic rifles stolen from the police or smuggled from neighbouring Myanmar.

Kukis accuse Chief Minister Biren Singh, a Meitei and member of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of complicity in attacks on members of their community and have sought his removal.

Singh denies the allegations and Modi’s federal government has dismissed opposition accusations of inactivity, saying it has deployed tens of thousands of security personnel and that the situation is on the mend.

(Reporting by Shanima A in Bengaluru; Editing by YP Rajesh and Kevin Liffey)