The United States has 'human concerns' about the ongoing ethnic violence in Manipur and is willing to bring 'more collaboration, more projects, more investment' once peace is ensured in the state, US Ambassador Eric Garcetti said. Nearly 120 people have died and more than 3,000 injured in the ethnic violence in Manipur since May 3.
While speaking at a press meet at the American Center in Kolkata on Thursday, Garcetti acknowledged the progress in the region and reiterated US's assistance to redress the violence in Manipur.
"We know peace as a precedent for so many good things. There has been so much progress in the Northeast and the East...We stand ready to assist in any ways if asked. We know it's an Indian matter and we pray for that peace and that it may come quickly. Because we can bring more collaboration, more projects, more investment if that peace is in place," he said.
He was responding to a question on whether the violence in Manipur over the past two months, including deaths and attacks on the state’s Christian minority, were a matter of concern for the US.
In response Garcetti said that it is not a matter of strategic concerns, but of human concerns. "You don't have to be an Indian to care when children or individuals die in this sort of violence," he said.
Garcetti's remarks come at a time when violence in Manipur continues with the Congress alleging that the BJP and its "divisive politics" are responsible for the present situation in the state.
Congress reacts to Eric Garcetti's statements
Reacting to Eric Garcetti's remarks on Manipur violence, Congress leader Manish Tewari said that it is very rare for a US envoy to make such a statement on India's internal affairs. "To the best of my recollection going back at least 4 decades in Public life I have never heard a US Ambassador making a statement of this nature about the internal affairs of India," Manish Tewari said.
"We faced Challenges in Punjab, J&K , North East over the decades and surmounted those with sagacity & wisdom. I doubt if the New @USAmbIndia @ericgarcettz is cognisant of the convoluted & torturous history of US-India relations & our sensitivity about interference perceived or real, well intentioned or mal intentioned into our internal affairs," Tewari said.
The Congress has been questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence over the violence in the state.
