Buffer zones have been created in areas where the Kuki-Zo and Meitei populations merge. The groups were asked to check blackmail and imprison their cadres in designated camps. | Photo credit: Vijaya Singh
After a two-day review of the operations of the Meitei and Kuki-Zo insurgent groups, officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Manipur government have warned the troops that they will face action if they violate ground rules, a senior government official told The Hindu. The groups were asked to check blackmail and imprison their cadres in designated camps.
On January 13, a peace monitoring committee chaired by Manipur Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goel reviewed the terms of the ceasefire agreement with the United National Liberation Front – Pambei (UNLF-P) faction in Imphal. The UNLF is the oldest Meitei armed insurgent group, which first signed a peace agreement with the MHA and the Manipur government on 29 November 2023, months after ethnic violence erupted in the state on 3 May that year. The group operates from Myanmar and advocates secession of Manipur from India.
The official said the UNLF-P representatives who attended the meeting were asked to return the looted police weapons by the end of April, while all existing weapons in the hands of their cadres, except those required for camp security, were to be stored in armories by next week. The group was asked to lock up its cadres in their camps, verify their identities, and reduce their strength from the existing 2,100 cadres to 1,200. When the peace pact was signed in 2023, about 80 cadres surrendered with 31 arms, and several others laid down their arms later.
Revision of the basic rules
On 14 January in Guwahati, a joint monitoring team comprising AK Mishra, MHA Adviser North-East, Intelligence Service (IB) officials and the Manipur government reviewed the ground rules for the Kuki-Zo insurgent groups, the United People’s Front and the Kuki National Government (KNO), which are under suspension of operations with the SoO pact.
The meetings were held amid indications that an elected government would soon return to Manipur. The state was placed under President’s rule on 13 February 2025.
The SoO groups were again reminded to relocate the seven designated camps away from conflict-prone areas. The MHA and the state government signed a new SoO agreement with the Kuki-Zo insurgent groups on 4 September 2025 with newly negotiated ground rules. The first such agreement was signed in 2008, but the Manipur government refused to renew it annually on 29 February 2024.
Restoration of popular government
“These two meetings focused on enforcement of ground rules, relocation of camps, infrastructure in camps, surrender of weapons, verification of cadres, control of extortion activities. Groups were warned to intervene if violations of ground rules were reported,” the official said.
Mr. Mishra also met Kuki-Zo Council Chairman Henlianthang Thanglet in Chuarachandpur on January 13 to seek the civil society group’s cooperation in restoring the people’s government.
“It was an hour-long meeting. Mr. Mishra was here to discuss the participation of Kuki-Zo legislators in the people’s government. We conveyed the sentiments of the people who are not in favor of their entry into the government as our demands for self-governance were not addressed. Now it is up to the legislators,” said Mr. Thanglet.
There are ten Kuki-Zo MLAS in the 60-member Manipur Assembly, including seven Kuki-Zo legislators from the BJP.
Published – 14 Jan 2026 22:35 IST
