Songpi: The Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and the United People’s Front (UPF) have strongly rejected the allegations leveled by the Government of Manipur regarding the violation of the Suspension of Operations (SoO) ground rules.
In a detailed letter addressed to N. Ashok Kumar, Commissioner-cum-Secretary (Home) and Chairman of the Joint Monitoring Group (JMG), the two umbrella organisations responded to his communication dated August 7, 2026, which accused SoO cadres of deserting designated camps, moving into conflict zones with arms, and participating in attacks.
The KNO and UPF stated that the government’s allegations must be examined against the backdrop of the state-sponsored violence that erupted on May 3, 2023. They questioned how the Government of India can reconcile charges against Kuki armed groups while ignoring what they termed a Manipur Police Commando-led campaign against the Kuki community.
According to the letter, during the initial weeks of violence in May 2023, more than 350 churches and thousands of Kuki homes were systematically destroyed. The groups alleged that this was carried out with the direct involvement and patronage of state forces.
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The Kuki organisations recalled that during the scheduled MHA-SoO extension meeting on February 29, 2024, the state government had raised similar allegations of ground-rule violations. In response, the KNO-UPF had questioned New Delhi about the role of the state government in orchestrating attacks on Kuki civilians.
The letter further pointed out that the Manipur government unilaterally withdrew from the tripartite SoO agreement in January 2024 and subsequently boycotted the February meeting, thereby undermining the entire SoO framework itself. They argued that the state cannot accuse others of violating an agreement it has itself abandoned.
Levelling serious charges against the former government led by N. Biren Singh, the KNO-UPF alleged that the state administration enabled the large-scale looting of police armouries. They claimed that thousands of sophisticated weapons and lakhs of rounds of ammunition looted from state armouries ended up in the hands of valley-based armed groups.
The groups also accused state-aligned actors of enforcing an economic blockade by blocking National Highways, thereby preventing the movement of essential supplies, medicines, and food to Kuki-inhabited hill districts.
The KNO-UPF questioned the selective application of justice. While the state government has threatened penal action against Kuki SoO leadership, no action has been initiated against those they hold responsible for the violence, including former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, personnel of the Manipur Police Commandos, and leaders of Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun.
In a significant allegation, the organisations claimed that cadres of the surrendered faction of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF-P) participated in attacks on Kuki villages alongside Manipur Police Commandos while wearing police uniforms. They alleged that despite evidence, no First Information Reports (FIRs) have been registered against them.
The KNO-UPF stressed that the SoO ground rules are equally binding on both sides. The patronage, arming, and deployment of groups like Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun by state functionaries, they argued, constitutes a grave violation of the SoO framework by the state itself.
Background of the Kuki-Meitei Conflict:
The ethnic conflict between the Kukis and the majority Meiteis erupted on May 3, 2023, following a Tribal Solidarity March opposing the Meitei demand for Scheduled Tribe status. What began as a protest quickly escalated into unprecedented violence that has claimed more than 260 lives and displaced over 60,000 people. The Kuki community alleges a systematic, state-sponsored ethnic cleansing campaign backed by the then Biren Singh government, Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun, resulting in the complete displacement of Kukis from Imphal valley, burning of villages and churches, and looting of 6,000 weapons from state armouries. Since then, Manipur has remained physically and demographically divided, with buffer zones manned by central forces separating the valley and the hills, and no free movement between the two communities for over three years.
The letter also noted that senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs, including interlocutor A.K. Mishra and Joint Director (North East) Dr. Mandip Tuli, were present in Manipur when violence broke out in May 2023 and had witnessed the situation firsthand.
The Kuki groups have called upon the Government of India to institute an impartial, independent investigation into the violence that began on May 3, 2023, and to prosecute all those responsible, irrespective of their position or affiliation. They stated that they have enclosed detailed timeline documentation and video evidence with their communication to substantiate their claims.
Reiterating their core political demand, the KNO and UPF said that the demographic separation in Manipur has already become an irreversible physical reality. For the physical safety, cultural survival, and political future of the Kuki people, they demanded the immediate creation of a Separate Administration in the form of a Union Territory with its own legislature under Article 239A of the Constitution.
