Manipur: Security tightened at Kangla Fort ahead of likely meet between MLAs and Meitei organisation

Kangla Fort, which lies in the heart of Imphal City, has been fortified with heavy state and central forces ahead of the meeting, most likely to take place tomorrow, between Meitei MLAs and Arambai Tengol, which has been called by the latter. 

In Manipur, security personnel are normally positioned in Imphal a few days ahead of the Republic day. But seeing the heavy deployment of security with advanced weaponry at all entrances of Kangla Fort, it is but clear that the security arrangement is not being taken up only for Republic Day. It is being speculated that security is being tighten up in connection with the meeting called by Arambai Tengol, a Meitei socio-cultural organisation.

While there has been no official confirmation from the government or the MLAs regarding the meeting, the presence of heavy security at the Kangla Fort indicates that the meeting is most likely to take place tomorrow as per the date set by Arambai Tengol.

Earlier, the state government had planned to carry out full rehearsal for the Republic Day Parade. But as per an official order issued this evening, Republic Day rehearsal has been postponed till January 25. 

It may be mentioned that Arambai Tengol had sent written invitations to all Meitei MLAs and ministers including Chief Minister N Biren Singh to attend a meeting at 10 am on January 24 at Kangla Fort. Through the invitations, the Arambai Tengol appealed to all the Meitei MLAs and ministers to be present at the meeting without fail. 

In the invitation letter, the Arambai Tengol had mentioned that the purpose of the meeting is to discuss about what the Meitei community should do in the face of current crisis.

Earlier today, the Arambai Tengol members had conducted the second round of talks with the three-member special Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) team in Imphal. 

As per highly placed sources, during the meet, the Arambai Tengol have put up the demand for conducting an updation of the National Register of Citizenship (NRC) in Manipur with the base year being put at 1951. Another demand put forth is for the abrogation of the Suspension of Operation (SoO) with the hill based outfits. The third demand is to deport refugees from staying in detention centres in neighbouring Mizoram. The Meitei orgsaisation has also demanded to completely replace the Assam Rifles in the state with another central force. And lastly, the demand has been made to delist all alleged illegals in Manipur from the Scheduled Tribe list. 

Manipur has been witnessing ethnic strife since May last year and more than 180 people have been killed.