“We will discuss issues including the security of farmers and their farmland, opening of highways, resettlement of the displaced people etc,” he further stated.He added that they were expecting a positive response in the form of concrete actions from the government.Farmers with agricultural land located in the peripheral regions of the Imphal Valley, bordering the Kuki hills, have frequently come under attack during the ongoing ethnic conflict.The latest such attack occurred around a week ago when a Meitei farmer was injured after being shot at by an unidentified assailant in Bishnupur district. In a subsequent operation by security personnel, an elderly Kuki woman was killed in crossfire in Churachandpur district.The ethnic conflict has led to an internal partition of Manipur, severing physical contact between the Meitei and Kuki communities. Even more than two years after violence first broke out on 3 May 2023, Meiteis are unable to travel to Kuki-dominated areas, and Kukis similarly remain cut off from the Meitei-majority Imphal Valley.The conflict has claimed over 250 lives and displaced around 60,000 people. A large number of these displaced persons continue to live in relief camps across the state.
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