Kanggui: The Kuki History and Identity Protection Committee has issued a strong rejoinder to the press statement released by the United Naga Council on 27th August concerning the incident along IT Road in Kangpokpi District. In its press statement bearing Ref. No. KHIPC/PR-08/2026, the KHIPC said it unequivocally rejects the attempt by UNC to whitewash armed attackers as innocent Liangmai civilians and termed the demand for justice as selective and ethnically motivated.
According to KHIPC, the real victims of the ongoing violence along IT Road are Kuki farmers of Makui, L. Phaijang and adjoining villages spread across Kangpokpi, Senapati, Kamjong, Tamenglong and Ukhrul districts. The committee alleged that for the past eight months, these farmers have been subjected to continuous and targeted attacks by cadres of NSCN-IM, ZUF-K and NSCN-EF. Farmers have been prevented from entering their own paddy fields, physically assaulted, their standing crops destroyed and illegal taxes extorted at gunpoint through illegal checkpoints set up by armed cadres. KHIPC said it has documented at least 17 such incidents since January 2026.
KHIPC further stated that despite repeated appeals from Kuki villages, the UNC, which claims to be the apex body of the Nagas, maintained absolute silence on these attacks. Not a single condemnation was issued when Kuki farmers were beaten or stopped from cultivating their fields. The committee said this silence exposes the selective approach of UNC which only reacts when its affiliated cadres face retaliation.
Giving details of the 27th August incident, KHIPC said that at around 8:30 AM on that day, militant elements of NSCN-IM and ZUF-K again attacked Kuki farmers working in their fields along IT Road. In response, Kuki village volunteers, exercising their inherent right to self-defence to protect life and livelihood, neutralised four attackers. The committee said credible ground testimonies from local villagers confirm that the four deceased were not innocent civilians.
KHIPC disputed UNC’s claim that the deceased were holding offices of Village Authority Chairman, School Principal and Youth Club leader. According to KHIPC, they were active armed cadres of NSCN-IM and ZUF-K who were operating a well-established extortion network along IT Road. The recovery of sophisticated assault weapons from a jungle combat position, and not from a classroom or village office, establishes their true identity, the statement said. An armed cadre in the morning cannot become an innocent civilian in a press release in the evening, KHIPC added.
The committee also flagged what it called the most mischievous part of the UNC statement, which is the deliberate naming of Shri Jangboi Kipgen, Home Secretary of KNF/UPF, and Suspension of Operations groups KNF(P), KNF and KRA. KHIPC termed this a calculated falsehood intended to mislead the Government of India and to use the Indian Army and Assam Rifles against Kuki villages. It alleged that this is an attempt to shield NSCN-IM and ZUF-K cadres operating in Kuki areas by diverting security action towards Kuki defenders, calling it a dangerous manipulation of the security apparatus that must be rejected.
On UNC’s demand for a Special Investigation Team headed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, KHIPC said it welcomes such an investigation, but justice must not be selective. The committee demanded that the SIT must investigate three crucial aspects, including the true identity, affiliation and criminal antecedents of the four deceased, the documented attacks on Kuki farmers and civilians since January 2026, and the illegal tax collection, illegal checkpoints and systematic extortion along IT Road.
KHIPC reminded the UNC that condemnation must be based on principle, not ethnicity. The committee said one cannot remain silent when Kuki farmers are beaten and shot, and then demand justice only when the attackers are stopped. It further said that the one-day mourning and total shutdown called on 28th August across Naga-inhabited areas is not a prayer for innocent civilians, but a public mourning for extortionists who failed in their attempt.
The statement concluded by asserting that justice must be for all and no press release can turn an armed attacker into an innocent civilian. The rejoinder was issued by the Department of Information and Publicity of the Kuki History and Identity Protection Committee.
