The BJP government in Manipur has agreed to “restore internet connectivity” to the strife-hit state within five days “subject to an assessment of law and order condition”.

The assurance was declared in a “memorandum of agreement” signed between the government and the All Naga Students’ Association Manipur (ANSAM) on Thursday night after back-to-back meetings with chief minister N. Biren Singh and education minister Th Basanta Kumar.

The MoA said the government had held the “emergency meeting” with the ANSAM to discuss the Internet shutdown and a demand to declare the results of a recruitment exam that was held held in September 2021 to appoint 190 assistant professors “on a contract for one academic session”.

The emergency discussion was a fallout of the picketing resorted by the ANSAM members at government offices in Naga-inhabited areas since Tuesday, seeking restoration of Internet services in
“peaceful areas” and declaration of the results of the job interviews.

The agitation, ANSAM members said, had disrupted the functioning of government offices in Naga-inhabited areas of the state where violence erupted between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities on May 3.

At least 177 persons have died in the unrest and over 67,000 displaced.