Manipur: Theatre’s Ratan Thiyam Quits Peace Panel

IMPHAL, (IANS) – Eminent theatre personality Ratan Thiyam on June 14 pulled out of the Manipur peace committee, constituted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to facilitate the peacemaking process among various ethnic groups of the state.

Thiyam, a Sangeet Natak Akademi Award winner in 1987, said that only with the intervention from the Centre, can the Manipur crisis be solved.

“Despite over a month-long ethnic crisis, Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) remained silent. For 2,000 years, people of 35 communities have been living together cordially and harmoniously. We are very peace-loving people,” Thiyam, 75, told the media.

He said that sincere political will is necessary to resolve the prevailing ethnic crisis in Manipur.

A former Chairperson of the National School of Drama, Thiyam has earlier appealed to the religious leaders of the state to take up a proactive role in restoring peace and stability.

The 51-member peace committee, headed by Governor Anusuiya Uikey, was set up to pursue peace among various ethnic groups where devastating ethnic violence since May 3 killed over 120 people and injured more than 350.

However, in a major setback to the government’s efforts to restore peace, an important Meitei civil society organization has also announced its withdrawal from the peace committee while an apex Kuki organization expressed their unhappiness over the committee’s unilateral formation.