A home ministry team, comprising two senior Intelligence Bureau officers and an interlocutor, held two meetings on Monday night and Tuesday with members of the Arambai Tenggol, a Meitei activist group, which has called a meeting of all MLAs from the ethnic group to the Kangla Fort on Wednesday, officials aware of the developments said.

An official said the three members who landed in Imphal on Monday held talks with Tenggol leaders at the residence of Manipur’s Rajya Sabha MP Leishamba Sanajaoba.“The MHA team again met Arambai Tenggol in the morning too. It is unclear how the situation will turn out to be tomorrow. There were meetings held but details will be revealed only after a function on Wednesday,” said an official close to Sanajaoba.

But in the hours leading up to the meeting on Wednesday, security forces were on high alert and preparedness was increased in Imphal. On Saturday, Arambai Tenggol had invited all valley MLAs, including chief minister N Biren Singh, to the Kangla Fort in Imphal. The group is said to have told the ministers and MLAs that they were invited as Meiteis.

Read Here: 10 political parties’ leaders meet Manipur CM; seek PM’s intervention on crisis

Arambai Tenggol, an influential Meitei group in the Imphal valley, which has been accused by Kuki civil society groups of orchestrating attack in Kuki villages. To be sure, neither the Manipur police nor security forces have come on record to blame the group for violence. “The situation on the ground is very tense. It is unclear if the Meitei MLAs minister and CM will attend the meeting. Police have been told not to allow those with arms to enter the fort. The situation is tense because the Arambai Tenggol suddenly got wide support from Meities and has been accepted. This is also why the MHA representatives have been meeting only Arambai Tenggol and not other civil society groups. The three-member committee has been sent to defuse the tense situation, which had arisen after the clarion call by the Arambai Tenggol,” a second official from the Manipur government said.

Though the Union ministry and Manipur government did not issue any statement on the meetings, people aware of the matter said the Arambai Tenggol, in meetings with the three officials, insisted on the abrogation of the Suspension of Operations Agreement with Kuki militant groups, removal of Assam Rifles for failing to prevent the killings of Meitei civilians, making 1951 as the base year for NRC and deporting all Myanmar nationals to Mizoram or Myanmar.

The demand is similar to a resolution adopted by 35 Meitei MLAs on Monday evening. The Meitei MLAs in their resolution said that if the Centre did not act on their demands such as suspending the SoO with militants, they would take “appropriate action in consultation with the people”.

Read Here: Rahul attacks Modi for not visiting strife-torn Manipur

“Legislators have unanimously resolved that the Government of India should take up appropriate action at the earliest. If the Government of India is unable to take any positive action as per these demands, we the legislators will take appropriate action in consultation with the public,” the resolution signed by 34 MLAs said.

The ethnic clashes between Kuki and Meiteis have led to over 200 deaths and left nearly 50,000 displaced from their homes. More than eight months after clashes started last year, the violence has not ended.