Patil to hold talks with Manipur agitators

The Home Minister Shivraj Patil will be visiting the troubled state of Manipur between September 4th ""7th in order to assess the situation there and hold discussions with various civil rights groups.

According to official sources in the home ministry, the instructions for the visit came from the Prime Minister's Office on Thursday.

Sources add that the PM had received several representations from the state and the intelligence feedback had advised that either the home or defence minister pay a visit to the state.

Although Patil's itinerary is still fluid, he is expected to spend September 4 in Guwahati and Shillong in Assam, and proceed to Imphal on September 5th. Manipur chief minister O Ibobi Singh has been asked to identify groups with whom to hold talks.

The home minister's visit is significant as it has been forensically proven that Th Manorama Devi had been raped before she was killed.

Soldiers affiliated to the Assam rifles have been accused of thecrime. And although an asurnce was given by the PM that the guilty would be punished, no apparent action was taken in the situation.

There is also a demand that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSP), due to which the Assam Rifles are stationed in Manipur be repealed.

Ibobi singh has already, in defiance of the Central government, recalled the Assam rifles from certain parts of Imphal. There is talk that the AFSPA will be repealed from Manipur by December 31.