Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss the ongoing ethnic crisis in Manipur and urged him to engage in talks with the tribal leaders of the Kuki-Zo community, officials reported.
An official from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) in Aizawl stated that the meeting took place at Amit Shah’s residence on Thursday, where they discussed the ethnic conflict in Manipur. Lalduhoma requested Shah to facilitate a meeting between the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), which represents all tribal communities in Manipur.
The Mizoram CM also mentioned that he was invited by Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh to visit Imphal and expressed his readiness to accept the invitation.
Meanwhile, an official from the Manipur CMO in Imphal mentioned that during the NITI Aayog meeting in New Delhi last week, Chief Minister Biren Singh discussed various issues concerning the northeast region with Mizoram CM Lalduhoma and Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio.
The CMO official in Aizawl also noted that Lalduhoma thanked Union Home Minister Shah for approving ₹10 crore for the displaced people sheltered in Mizoram.
Since the military takeover in Myanmar in February 2021, more than 35,120 refugees from Myanmar have taken shelter in Mizoram. Additionally, over 2,000 Bangladeshi tribals have been staying in Mizoram since November 2022. Currently, 4,215 internally displaced people (IDPs) from Manipur are residing in various districts of Mizoram following ethnic violence in the neighboring state last May. At the height of the Manipur ethnic turmoil, over 12,000 IDPs from Manipur sought refuge in Mizoram, although many have since returned home.