The Naga groups are now demanding the return of four Naga heads allegedly beheaded by Kuki village guards on October 10, 2026, at Makui village. This demand is not about tradition; it is about politics. Before they speak of four heads, they must answer for the more than 100 Kuki heads they took in Joupi and Thingsan on September 13, 1993.
On 13 September 1993, NSCN-IM cadres surrounded Joupi and Thingsan villages in Tamenglong, tied our innocent civilians together, forced them to lie face down, and beheaded them one by one with swords. They were not armed militants. They were farmers, pastors, mothers and children; none were spared. Their heads and bodies were left to rot in the jungle, and to this day their families have received no justice. Where are those 100 heads?
The Kuki action at Makui in 2026 occurred in a war that the Nagas started again. Since early 2026, Kacha Naga militants of the NSCN-IM have killed more than 30 Kuki civilians, including pastors and pregnant women, burnt our villages in Kamjong, Noney, Kangpokpi, Ukhrul and Tamenglong, and forced thousands to flee. Our village guards are defending our ancestral land; they are not attacking. If Nagas wish to discuss beheading, they must first admit that they started this culture of beheading Kukis in the 1990s.
You cannot demand four heads while you are still holding 100 heads from 1993. You cannot invoke customary law when you have buried our customary rights for 30 years. Between 1992 and 1997, the NSCN-IM killed more than 1,100 Kukis and uprooted 360 villages. No Naga leader ever returned a single head, no one apologised, and no one was punished. Instead, they are in peace talks with Delhi.
So my answer is simple: Return our 100 heads from Joupi and Thingsan first. Deliver justice for the 1993 genocide before you ask for four heads from 2026. The Kuki people will never forget Joupi, and we will never allow history to be rewritten.
Justice cannot be delivered selectively. You cannot choose the heads you wish to remember and bury the heads you wish to forget. If you seek justice for four heads in 2026, you must first deliver justice for 100 heads in 1993. True customary law does not work one way; it demands truth first.
If Kuki mothers cried today, Naga mothers will cry tomorrow. This cycle of revenge and retaliation will never end if we continue counting heads. Today it is four heads; tomorrow it will be 40. The only way to end this bloodshed is to acknowledge what happened in Joupi, Thingsan, Gelnel and all the other Kuki villages. Until that is done, there can be no peace between our peoples.
In the 1990s, Kukis had only locally-made Jangvoh and Cartoos guns to defend themselves, while the NSCN-IM carried automatic rifles and ambushed our villages. That is why you were able to kill 1,100 of us so easily. But today, Kukis possess the same weapons that Nagas possess. And do not use the ceasefire as your shield to kill our civilians. If you want to fight, fight man to man, armed to armed, not by killing civilians, burning villages and killing pastors and women.
