While the civil society organisations (CSOs) of Manipur including Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) have been demanding abrogation of the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with all the Kuki-Zomi militant groups and the Manipur Legislative Assembly also in the 5th Session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly on February 29, 2024 adopted a unanimous resolution urging the Central Government to completely abrogate the SoO agreement, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Kuki-Zomi militant groups, in a meeting held on June 16, 2025, reached an understanding on the relocation and closure of certain camps run by the groups in Manipur.
According to reports, the MHA, in the meeting held on June 16, 2025 with the SoO groups, in New Delhi stressed recovery of looted weapons and the opening of the National Highways – NH-2 and NH-37.
However, it is not clear the stress given by the MHA for recovery of looted arms are whether from the Meiteis or Kuki-Zomis. It also cannot be confirmed yet whether they discussed or not about the sophisticated weapons and cache of arms in the hands of Kuki-Zomi militants whether looted or procured/smuggled or supplied by vested interests groups which are at large.
The stress about the opening of National Highways is significant since the NH-2 and NH-37 connect the land-locked Manipur, particularly Meitei-dominated Central Valley, to the neighbouring States of Nagaland and Assam respectively with the rest of the country. The two National Highways are critical for the supply of essentials and other commodities, pass through Kuki-Zomi inhabited areas and Meiteis have not been allowed to pass through the National Highways for more than two years.
Reports also said that the Security Agencies, in the meeting on June 16, have proposed the closure of seven out of 14 existing designated camps of the SoO groups, which are located close to Meitei-populated areas in the foothills encircling the Manipur’s Central Valley.
However, no deadline was fixed for the extension of the SoO agreement with the Kuki-Zomi militant groups as it depended on adherence to ground rules and other conditions. The SoO became ineffective on February 29, 2024, when the Government of Manipur pulled out from the tripartite agreement, MHA and SoO groups being the other two signatories.
It may be mentioned that the first SoO agreement which had been operational between the Assam Riffles and the Kuki-Zomi militants since August 1, 2005 was formalised on August 22, 2008 as a tripartite agreement between Government of India (GOI) and Government of Manipur (GOM) on one part, and Kuki-Zomi militants represented by the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and the United People’s Front (UPF) on the other part.
The KNO is a conglomeration of 17 Kuki-Zomi militant groups while the UPF has eight militant groups belonging to Kuki-Zomi tribes.
The Kuki-Zomi militant groups under the SoO agreement resumed talks with the MHA on June 9, after a gap of two years since the eruption of the violent conflict on May 3, 2023 due to the Kuki-Zomi militant attack against the Meiteis in Churachandpur and its bordering areas of Bishnupur district, and simultaneous attacks in the night of the same day against the Meiteis in the Kuki-Zomi dominated areas of Imphal East district, Kangpokpi district and Indo-Myanmar border town Moreh in Tengnoupal district.
Notably, the GOI has resumed the talks with the SoO groups in response to the joint call of the 10 MLAs belonging to Kuki-Zomi tribes who have been demanding Separate Administration from Manipur since May 12, 2023; leaders of Kuki-Zo Council (KZC) and Zomi Council (ZC) and leaders of Kuki-Zomi militant groups under SoO to resume “substantive political dialogue” by the GOI with the SoO groups. The call was following the resolution taken on May 16, 2025 at Guwahati by the leaders of SoO groups, Kuki-Zo-Hmar-Paite MLAs, the Kuki-Zo Council (KZC), an apex body of the civil society organisations of the Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities and Zomi Council (ZC) representing Paite and its kindred tribes, that until the resumption of substantive political dialogue by the Government of lndia with SoO groups, the CSOs and elected representatives shall no longer engage with the Government of India or its representatives.
Reports quoting officials said that the next round of talks would be held after 15 days.
However, after the eruption of violent conflict, former Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren, his cabinet colleagues except Nemcha Kipgen and Letpao Haokip and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs except those belonging to Kuki-Zomi tribes, and several civil society organisations of Manipur including COCOMI pointed out that the Kuki-Zomi militant groups under the SoO agreement are responsible for the violent attack against the Meiteis for ethnic cleansing of the Meiteis from the Kuki-Zomi dominated areas so that they claim the areas as their exclusive territories and instigating the Kuki-Zomi civilians for the violence against Meiteis.
In the SoO agreement, the Kuki-Zomi militants declare their allegiance to the Constitution of India; abide by the rule of law and to protect the territorial integrity of Manipur. The SoO agreement requires Kuki-Zomi militants to remain confined to the designated camps and prohibit any engagement in violence, recruitment of new cadres, or possession of unauthorized arms. Even if they have to go out of the camps, they have to follow certain ground rules set for such purpose.
However, the Kuki-Zomi militant groups, violating the SoO ground rules, continue to recruit cadres, acquire illegal arms, and engage in violent and criminal activities including reportedly poppy cultivation and drug smuggling while enjoying the financial support and other resources from the Government of India for being under the SoO.
The Government of Manipur cited repeated violations of ground rules by the Kuki-Zomi militant groups under the SoO; series of incidents that revealed blatant violations and illegal encroachments on forest lands.
Following their alleged involvement in the rallies of Kuki-Zomi groups on March 10, 2023 in Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Tengnoupal districts, which turned out to be violent particularly at Kangpokpi town against the State government’s action against illegal encroachments of forest lands, the State Cabinet reviewed the law and order situation in view of the rallies on March 10, 2023 had decided to withdraw the State Government from SoO agreement with the Kuki National Army (KNA) and the Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA) whose leaders hail from outside Manipur.
Series of incidents have revealed blatant violations of SoO ground rules by the Kuki-Zomi militant groups are reported. Recently the NIA arrested three Kuki-Zomi militants namely, Thangminlen Mate, a member of Kuki Inpi Tengnoupal (KIT); Kamginthang Gangte of the Kuki National Army (KNA); and Hentinthang Kipgen, associated with the Village Volunteers group in Churachandpur district, in connection with a deadly attack on security forces that killed two personnel and injured several others in Moreh, Tengnoupal district, on January 17, 2024. The Kuki-Zomi groups are protesting against their arrest saying that they are innocent village volunteers.
One of the popular SoO leaders, German Haokip, commander of KNF (MC) is reported to have the United Kuki National Army (UKNA), now running as a separate non-SoO militant group in gross violation of the ground rules.
Another major incident of violation of SoO ground rules was the deadly clash on November 11, 2024 in Borobekra of Manipur’s Jiribam district that left eleven Kuki-Zomi militants dead in the retaliation by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and one CRPF personnel succumbed. The Kuki-Zomi militants attacked Borobekra police station and Jakuradhor Karong locality and burned down Meitei houses in Jakuradhor Karong under Borobekra Police Station in Jiribam district and two Meitei civilians found dead, another two civilians including one injured were rescued while six – three women and three children including an eight months-old boy, two and half-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl – who were Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) had been abducted by the Kuki-Zomi militants and later found their dead bodies from the river.
Three Kuki-Zomi militants – Seiminlen Khongsai, Haogoulen Doungel, 31, and Nehboithang Haokip, 26 – killed in the Jiribam gunfight were found to be the cadres of the Kuki Liberation Army (KLA), one of the SoO groups and their camp is in Pherzawl district far away from Jiribam.
In March 2025, a joint operation by the Kangpokpi district police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) resulted in the arrest of four cadres of the Kuki National Front (President), or KNF-P, for alleged involvement in extortion activities along National Highway-2. The arrested individuals were Lungousem Kipgen, 29, Letminlal Kipgen, 25, Satminlun Tuboi, 24, and Thanggoulun Kilong, 27 and they were certainly underage when the SoO was signed in 2008, strongly indicating they were recruited later violating the ground rules.
Despite all the violations of the SoO ground rules and without official extension of SoO after February 2024, the Government of India appears to have maintained the status quo with the Kuki-Zomi militant groups – whether they are under the SoO or not.
Meanwhile, the Foothills Naga Coordination Committee (FNCC) on June 18 has issued a stern warning to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India, and the Kuki-Zomi militant groups, in response to recent developments concerning the proposed relocation of designated camps for Kuki-Zomi militants groups under the SoO within Manipur.
The FNCC made it unequivocally clear that any relocation of SoO camps into Naga ancestral territories will be fiercely resisted, warning that such actions could ignite another May 3-like violence, a reference to the deadly violent conflict that shook Manipur form more than two years since May 2023.
The statement issued by the FNCC condemned the ongoing forceful occupation of the lands of Nagas under the fabricated claim of a so-called “Kukiland,” describing it as an act of aggression and deliberate provocation. “This is not just encroachment; it’s a calculated expansionist agenda aimed at destabilizing the integrity and identity of the Naga people,” the statement asserted.
Citing repeated attacks on Naga villages such as Longsai, Nungnang, Tumoyon Khullen, Kaiphundeijang, Satang, Tingpui, and others, the FNCC accused armed Kuki militants of systematic violence, while expressing frustration over government inaction and narrative distortion that downplays these aggressions.
The FNCC demands immediate dismantling of SoO camps near Naga areas, stating that further provocation will be met with an “unwavering iron hand.”
“If the Kuki community truly seeks peace, it must stop its land-grabbing tactics and respect the historical goodwill extended by the Naga people,” the FNCC emphasized, warning that any future aggression would come at a heavy and irreversible cost.
Now, the pertinent question is – why the MHA is considering from the ethno-centric perspective for closure of seven out of 14 existing designated camps of the SoO groups, which are located close to Meitei-populated areas in the foothills encircling the Manipur’s Central Valley and relocating to other areas. The designated camps for the militant groups under SoO or Cessation of Operation (CoO) should be far away from the residential areas or civilian areas of any community and National Highways. The relocation or opening of SoO camps should not be to balkanize Manipur further. The relocation or opening of SoO camps should always be from the perspective of security and safety of civilians and integrity and unity of Manipur.
Senior Editor: Imphal Review of Arts and Politics
