Amid violence, Manipur govt to hold special assembly session

The Manipur government on Thursday announced that it will convene a special assembly session in the second or third week of August.

Government spokesperson and Information and Public Relations Minister Sapam Rajan said that the government is making efforts towards this end.

There have been demands from several quarters to convene a special assembly session to discuss the current situation in the state.

Rajan also dismissed media reports that claimed that the state government had not taken medical care of Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Vungzagin Valte after he was injured in an attack in the initial days of the ongoing ethnic strife in May.

"We took care and regularly got updates of his health condition, even after he was discharged from the hospital. The government condemned the incident. BJP state president Sarda Devi and minister Th Basanta also met him in a hospital in Delhi," he said.

Ethnic violence broke out in Manipur nearly three months ago, killing over 160 people since then, and injuring hundreds.

The violence erupted on May 3 after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mainly in the hill districts.