Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday directed officials to ensure free movement on all roads in Manipur from March 8 and warned of strict action against any attempts to obstruct them, reported NDTV citing a statment from the Centre.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader’s directive came during a high-level review meeting in New Delhi on Saturday to assess the security situation in the North East state. Manipur has been mired in ethnic conflict between the Meitei and the Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities that broke out in May 2023 and has since left at least 258 dead and displaced more than 59,000.

Shah said on Saturday that the Centre was committed to restoring peace in Manipur.

The review meeting was attended by Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla, officials from the Manipur government, Army officers and the heads of paramilitary forces including the Border Security Force, the Central Reserve Police Force and the Assam Rifles.

This was the first such review meeting since President’s Rule was imposed in Manipur on February 13 following the resignation of Chief Minister N Biren Singh.

“To make Manipur drug-free, the entire network involved in drug trade should be dismantled,” a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs said. Shah also instructed officials to expedite fencing along Manipur’s border with Myanmar to enhance security.

On Friday, Bhalla extended the deadline for civilians to surrender illegal and looted arms until 4 pm on Thursday. In recent weeks, several weapons surrenders have taken place, including one by the armed Meitei radical group Arambai Tenggol, which handed over 246 weapons. Around 307 weapons have been surrendered in all.

Since the conflict in Manipur began, about 6,000 weapons have been looted from state armouries. About 1,200 of them had been recovered in security operations, according to an update provided by Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh in September.

In January, a Kuki group imposed an economic blockade along National Highway 2, which connects Imphal to Dimapur via Kangpokpi district. The blockade was later lifted.

Meanwhile, the Kuki Students’ Organisation and the Kuki-Zo Women’s Forum in Delhi and the National Capital Region on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urgin him to create a separate administration for their community in the form of a Union Territory with a legislature.

They also sought government assurances that Kuki-Zo village volunteers in Manipur would not be arrested before “relinquishing” their arms. Arambai Tenggol had recently made a similar demand to start surrendering weapons, in keeping with the governor’s mandate.

Also read: ‘In Manipur, rational voices on both sides are being silenced’