STRASBOURG: The EU parliament on Thursday urged India to end violence and protect minorities in the country’s northeastern Manipur state, criticising “nationalistic rhetoric” it said was adding to tensions.

It came as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi began a visit to France.

Greeted by his French counterpart Elisabeth Borne at Orly airport outside Paris, Modi stepped off his official plane to military honours around midday ahead of two days of meetings.

MEPs expressed concern over clashes between Manipur’s majority Meitei, who are mostly Hindus and live in and around the state capital Imphal, and the mainly Christian Kuki tribe in the surrounding hills.

The EU parliament said that the violence has “left at least 120 people dead, 50,000 displaced and over 1,700 houses and 250 churches destroyed”.

MEPs called out “nationalistic rhetoric” and the parliament adopted a resolution on Thursday urging Indian authorities to “promptly halt the ethnic and religious violence and to protect all religious minorities”.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2023