1993: 1,000 Kukis killed. 2012: CO and soldiers shot. 2015: 18 Army personnel killed. 2024: Contractor murdered. 2026: Civilians attacked. Different years, same pattern. Twenty-nine years later victims still wait for answers, accountability and a chance to rebuild.
By Sasang Haokip
Introduction: 29 Years of a Failed Truce That Cost Lives
For 29 years the ceasefire between the Government of India and NSCN-IM, signed on 25 July 1997 and made indefinite in 2007, has been projected as a step toward peace. But across the Northeast, for the Kuki people, it has been 29 years of continuous bloodshed and fear. Since 1993, over 1,100 Kuki civilians have been killed in targeted attacks. Civil society reports estimate more than 100 security personnel and government officers have also died in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur. Instead of peace, the agreement created space for killings, extortion, recruitment and ethnic cleansing. A ceasefire that cannot protect citizens, soldiers and public servants has lost all legitimacy. It must be abrogated now.
- Kuki Killings By NSCN-IM Across Assam, Nagaland and Manipur
Since 1993, NSCN-IM militants have carried out systematic attacks on Kuki villages in Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. The early 1990s saw large-scale massacres, village burnings, and forced displacement of thousands of Kuki families. Entire villages were wiped out in Manipur’s hill districts.
After the 1997 ceasefire, the attacks have continued. Kuki traders were shot on highways, farmers were killed in their fields, and community leaders were abducted. In the latest attacks in 2026, more than 14 Kuki civilians were killed in Manipur by NSCN-IM and its allied groups NSCN-EF and ZUF-K. On 6 July 2026, an 8-year-old girl and her mother were shot and critically injured in Thingkhongjang. Churches were targeted and burned. Over 1,100 Kuki civilians have died since 1993 while “peace talks” continued in Delhi. The truce protected the negotiators, not the people.
- Security Forces and Government Officers Killed Across Northeast Including Arunachal: 100+ Dead
The ceasefire failed to protect the Indian state. The deadliest breach was in June 2015 when 18 Indian Army personnel were killed in a Manipur ambush. In July 2026, 2 Assam Rifles jawans were killed in the Hungpung IED attack. In October 2000, an Army patrol was attacked in Dimapur, Nagaland. In July 2006, an encounter at Laingangching left one security personnel injured.
In Arunachal Pradesh, the toll has been severe. On 26 March, Circle Officer of Namtak in Changlang district, Pallav Roy Chowdhury, was abducted and killed for refusing to pay 25% of his salary to NSCN-IM. In April, 3 Army personnel of 4 Rajput Regiment were killed in a Tirap ambush near the Nagaland border. In May, sitting NPP MLA Tirong Aboh and 10 others were gunned down in Tirap by suspected NSCN-IM cadres. Multiple other ambushes and IED attacks in Tirap, Changlang and Longding have killed and injured security personnel over the years. Civil society estimates that over 100 security personnel and officers have been killed in NSCN-IM related violence since 1997 across all 4 states.
- Civilian Killings in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland: 1000+ Total
Beyond Kuki victims, NSCN-IM violence has killed civilians across Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland. In October 2004, 30 civilians were killed in twin bomb blasts at Dimapur Railway Station and Hong Kong Market.
In Arunachal’s Tirap, Changlang and Longding, dozens of civilians including traders, contractors, village heads and farmers have been shot dead since the 1990s for refusing to pay “tax” or for being suspected as informers. The 2011 Tirap ambush and multiple targeted killings show civilians are primary targets. Since 1997, 314 cadres from both NSCN factions have been killed in factional fighting and 237 activists kidnapped. In August 1999, NSCN-IM killed NSCN-K leader Dally Mungro and two others in Kohima. The overall Naga conflict is estimated to have cost 40,000 lives. Ceasefire monitoring has produced minutes, but not safety.
- The Illegal Tax Network of NSCN-IM Across Northeast India
Under the protection of the ceasefire, NSCN-IM built a parallel taxation network across Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Government employees are forced to pay a percentage of their salary. Contractors for roads, schools and railways must pay lakhs per project. Truckers, shopkeepers and villagers pay monthly “tax”. Refusal leads to abduction, beating, or death.
The killing of CO Pallav Roy Chowdhury in Changlang, Arunachal was a direct result of refusing to pay. In Arunachal’s Tirap, Changlang and Longding, PWD, BRO and private contractors are regularly served extortion notes and threatened. In Dima Hasao, Assam, 3 NSCN-IM cadres were killed in April 2025 while allegedly extorting railway contractors. Intelligence reports confirm the group used the truce period to consolidate finances and purchase weapons. This is organized crime running under the flag of a ceasefire.
- Human Rights Violations Against The Kuki Community
The campaign against the Kuki community has been deliberate and brutal. Documented violations attributed to NSCN-IM since the 1990s include: rape, torture, beheading, killing of children, killing of pastors, burning people alive, killing of pregnant women, burning down entire Kuki villages, and forcibly taking over Kuki lands to declare them “Naga areas”. Women were assaulted. Children were not spared. Homes were looted and then burned. Survivors were forced into relief camps and their ancestral lands were occupied. In 2026, kidnappings and targeted shootings in Manipur’s hill districts have continued. These are war crimes committed under the cover of a peace agreement.
- Breach of Ceasefire Ground Rules and Complete Lack of Accountability in Arunachal Too
The ceasefire ground rules bar NSCN-IM from carrying weapons outside designated camps and from violent activities. Yet the group has been found operating with arms in Dima Hasao, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal’s Tirap-Changlang-Longding belt.
The killing of Circle Officer Pallav Roy Chowdhury in Changlang, the ambush that killed 3 soldiers in Tirap, and the murder of MLA Tirong Aboh and 10 others are all direct violations on Arunachal soil. Both sides have accused each other — in 2006 NSCN-IM alleged security forces killed “dozens of its cadres,” and in 2025 it called the killing of 3 cadres a “breach.” But in 29 years, the Ceasefire Monitoring Group has not delivered a single prosecution. There has been no compensation for victims in Arunachal or Manipur.
- What Has This Ceasefire Achieved For The People of 4 States?
After nearly three decades, we must measure the outcome. The 2015 Framework Agreement remains unsigned. Extortion continues every month. Killings continue every year. Displacement continues in the hills. The conflict has cost an estimated 40,000 lives.
In Arunachal, border villages in Tirap, Changlang and Longding live under constant threat of NSCN-IM taxation, abduction and murder. Government officers, MLAs and civilians have all been targeted. In Kuki areas, families still cannot return to their burnt villages. A truce that protects negotiators in Delhi but leaves children, officers and soldiers vulnerable in the field is not peace. It is a license for violence and impunity.
Conclusion: Abrogate The Ceasefire and Deliver Justice Now Across All 4 States
I urge the Government of India to immediately abrogate the ceasefire agreement with NSCN-IM. Constitute an NIA-led judicial probe into all killings of Kuki civilians, government officers and security forces since 1993 across Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur. Specific cases in Arunachal like the killing of CO Pallav Roy Chowdhury, 3 soldiers in Tirap, and MLA Tirong Aboh and 10 others must be prioritized.
Dismantle the illegal taxation network operating in all four states. Return Kuki lands that were forcibly taken and resettle displaced families with security. Prosecute those responsible for rape, murder, arson and the targeting of children, pastors and public servants under law.
Peace in the Northeast will not come from selective truces or from silencing one community for the sake of talks. It will come only when every life — soldier, officer, Kuki, Naga, Meitei — is protected equally under the Constitution. Until that day, this failed ceasefire must end.
