Meitei MLA visits Kuki relief camp in Manipur for first time since 2023 violence

In a first since ethnic violence broke out in Manipur in 2023, a Meitei legislator on Monday visited a relief camp housing members of the Kuki community in Ukhrul district.

BJP MLA Yumnam Khemchand Singh, who represents the Singjamei constituency in Imphal West, met residents of the Litan Sareikhong camp and interacted with families displaced during the conflict.

“With Christmas approaching, we all should pray for the return of peace in the state,” Singh told the inmates. Acknowledging the strained relations between communities, he said conflict existed “almost everywhere in the world”, but urged people to “learn to live in harmony despite the existing differences”.

There should be no hindrance, he added, in visiting each other’s villages.

Singh said the prolonged conflict should not be allowed to determine the lives of the next generation.

“We, the elders, both in the Hills and the Valley, may have differences, but we should think about our children’s future,” he said.

State BJP vice president H. Shimray, from the Naga community, accompanied the MLA and said the visit was part of broader efforts to restore normalcy and rebuild trust.

“We have been talking with Yumnam on how to start an interaction. He said there had to be a beginning,” Shimray said.

One camp resident urged the authorities to facilitate their safe return home, saying they had been waiting for months for rehabilitation measures.

Thousands remain in relief camps across Manipur, unable to return to their villages amid continued tensions.

More than 260 people have been killed and several thousand displaced since clashes erupted between the Meitei and Kuki communities last year.

The violence, which deeply polarised the state along ethnic lines, led to the imposition of President’s Rule in February after BJP leader N. Biren Singh resigned amid criticism of his government’s handling of the crisis.

Singh’s visit, viewed by officials as a symbolic gesture, marks one of the first visible attempts at community outreach since the conflict began. However, substantial reconciliation efforts and security assurances will be required before displaced families are able to return to their homes.

With PTI inputs