Committee says 33-year ceasefire enabled destruction of 300 villages; demands prosecutions, land return, UN intervention
By Nengcha Haokip | Kukiland Express
New Delhi, July 3, 2026: The Kuki History & Identity Protection Committee on Thursday accused the Government of India of using the National Socialist Council of Nagalim–Isak Muivah to carry out what it called the “sustained, systematic destruction” of Kuki people, history, and ancestral lands since 1993.
In a press statement dated 3 July, Ref: KHIPC/PR/2026/07-03, KHIPC said more than 1,100 Kuki civilians have been killed, over 300 Kuki villages burned down, and “vast tracts of Kuki ancestral land have been seized or emptied” during the 33 years India has maintained a ceasefire with NSCN-IM. The committee argued that “the ceasefire did not stop the killings. It ran alongside them,” adding that the pattern “proves New Delhi is enabling NSCN-IM to erase Kuki history and take Kuki lands.”
Systematic Erasure, Not Random Violence
KHIPC described the attacks as systematic rather than random. From 1993 to 2026, it said, NSCN-IM cadres “have attacked Kuki settlements in Manipur’s hill districts year after year.” The statement said churches were torched, granaries destroyed, schools shut, and families driven from land “held by their ancestors for centuries.” The committee put the toll at “1,100+ dead and 300 villages lost,” calling it “the removal of a people from their territory and historical record by a group under an official ceasefire with India.”
Ceasefire Equals Complicity
The committee said a ceasefire should end violence, but for Kukis, India’s truce with NSCN-IM “has meant three decades of unpunished attacks.” It noted that “no senior NSCN-IM leader, including Th. Muivah, has been arrested for these killings” and there have been “no charges, trials, or convictions.” According to KHIPC, “when a government signs a truce and allows the armed group to keep killing another community and taking its land, that is not neutrality. It is complicity.”
2026 Killings Cited
KHIPC said the violence continued in 2026 under state watch. It claimed NSCN-IM killed 14 Kuki civilians this year, “including 3 pastors and a pregnant woman and her husband.” The committee said the murders targeted “community leaders and families rooted in the land” and occurred while the ceasefire holds and central forces are deployed across Manipur. “An armed group cannot sustain a 33-year campaign against civilians without protection,” the statement read.
Zero Arrests Prove State Sponsorship
The committee pointed to “zero accountability for 33 years,” stating that “one militant organisation has killed more than 1,000 Kuki innocents and taken their villages, yet the government has not arrested a single perpetrator from 1993 to 2026.” KHIPC said that record “proves India is using NSCN-IM to destroy Kuki history and lands.” It called the enforcement “selective” and said it “destroys faith in the Constitution.”
History and Sovereignty
Citing British records of “The Kuki Independent Hill Country,” KHIPC said the Kuki people “held sovereignty over their hills” and “can re-install their lost sovereignty based on that record.” It asked, “Is that why India uses NSCN-IM to kill Kuki people and take their lands?” The committee argued that “killing the people, burning the villages, and shielding the killers is how history is deleted on the ground.”
Genocide Allegation
KHIPC termed the events “a sustained human rights violation” and “justice delayed this long is justice denied, and history erased this long is genocide.” It said the Genocide Convention recognizes acts committed with intent to destroy a group in whole or in part, and “targeting people, land, and cultural symbols together meets that threshold.”
Demands
The committee listed four immediate actions:
- Prosecute NSCN-IM cadres responsible for the 1,100+ killings and 300 destroyed villages.
- End what it called “ceasefire impunity” with NSCN-IM militants.
- Return or compensate for ancestral territory seized since 1993 by NSCN-IM under Th. Muivah’s leadership.
- Acknowledge Kuki history, land, and identity “instead of sponsoring their destruction.”
“Until India stops using NSCN-IM to erase Kukis, the charge of state sponsorship stands confirmed: 33 years, 1,100+ dead, zero arrests,” the statement said.
International Appeal
KHIPC said internal remedies have failed after “33 years of killings with no arrests and no justice.” It appealed to “world leaders, the United Nations, and international human rights organisations to intervene to protect Kuki land, rights, history, and lives.” The committee said, “The world must recognise that India is using NSCN-IM to destroy Kuki history and lands,” calling it “the targeted elimination of a people whose sovereignty is recorded.”
The statement was signed by Ginpu Haokip, Chairman, and Lunkhothang Kipgen, General Secretary, Kuki History & Identity Protection Committee. KHIPC lists its office in Lamka Town, Songpi District, and was established in 2026. Its motto is “History unforgoten, Identity unshaken, Heritage unbroken.”
