Imphal/Guwahati:

An umbrella body of civil society organisations of Manipur’s valley-dominant Meitei community has requested Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla to work for restoring an elected government within a month.

President’s Rule was imposed in violence-hit Manipur on February 13 following the resignation of Chief Minister N Biren Singh.

Representatives of the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) met Governor Bhalla at the Raj Bhavan in the state capital Imphal, and submitted a 13-point memorandum that detailed steps the Governor may consider to bring peace to Manipur.

“It is evident that in the ongoing law and order crisis in Manipur, the Meetei group has no specific agenda or objective in engaging with this conflict. Rather, the crisis appears to be driven by those pursuing the demand for a separate administration,” COCOMI said in the memorandum.

COCOMI requested the Governor to work on a comprehensive initiative to identify, dismantle, and evict all illegal villages that have sprung up across the state, threatening its demographic and environmental integrity.

The civil society group said all violent activities and unauthorised movement of armed groups must be brought to a complete halt to ensure peace and stability, and requested for measures to provide security and amnesty for all affected villages and their civilian village defence forces to safeguard them from continued violence.

“The coordinator of the northeast [for] BJP has firmly assured that the territorial integrity of Manipur will be safeguarded. The coordinator must unequivocally assert that the administrative integrity of Manipur is paramount and must be safeguarded without exception, ensuring that it remains uncompromised. It is imperative that we eliminate any possibility of separate administration,” COCOMI said.

The Raj Bhavan in a statement said COCOMI convenor Kh Athouba and six others called on the Governor, and submitted a memorandum highlighting key issues pertaining to the state.

“… Governor heard their concerns and asked them to cooperate with the government in the run-up to restore harmony,” the Raj Bhavan said.

COCOMI alleged one of the root causes of the Manipur crisis is the involvement of what it called “Chin-Kuki narco-terrorist separatist groups” that have been working “in a manner similar to the Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA) in Myanmar, using this alignment to bargain for territorial gains within Manipur while deploying expendable Kuki militants in a proxy war and counter insurgency operations under the guise of loyalty” to India.

READ | ‘Manipur Crisis Driven By Those Pursuing Separate Administration’: Meitei Body In Memorandum To Governor

“The Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement since 2008, which has enabled militancy, must be thoroughly reviewed and dismantled. The leadership of these groups, including UPF leader Thanglianpau Guite (former MP in Myanmar) and KNO leader PS Haokip (originally from Somra Track, Myanmar), underscores their foreign origins,” COCOMI said in the memorandum.

“The state urgently requires reestablishment of law and order across both hills and plains, immediate relief and financial assistance for those affected, reconstruction of destroyed villages with adequate security measures, rehabilitation of internally displaced persons (IDPs), ensuring their safe return to their respective homes and villages, and free and secure access to healthcare, education, and transport facilities, including uninterrupted and safe movement along national highways,” COCOMI said.

Had a fruitful and meaningful discussion with the Hon’ble Governor of Manipur today. All key issues were thoroughly explained and acknowledged, paving the way for a better resolution of the state’s chronic problems, which have been exacerbated by immense cross-border pressures… pic.twitter.com/TyYRfIdwvq

— Khuraijam Athouba (@Paari_Athouba) February 17, 2025

Some 24 Kuki-Zo militant groups come under two umbrella organisations for the purpose of negotiations – the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) led by the KNA, and the United People’s Front (UPF) led by the Zomi Revolutionary Army. The KNO and the UPF representing all the others have signed the SoO agreement with the Centre and the Manipur government. Under this agreement, the militants are to stay at designated camps and their weapons kept in locked storage, to be monitored regularly.

The state government has been demanding to end the SoO agreement over allegations that SoO-linked militants have been taking part in the Manipur violence, as also militants from several banned Meitei groups that had nearly been eradicated from Manipur in the last 10 years, only to return from their hideouts in neighbouring Myanmar after the breakout of ethnic clashes in May 2023.

READ | End Ceasefire With All Kuki-Zo Insurgent Groups: Manipur Assembly Unanimous Resolution

The SoO agreement is reviewed by a joint monitoring group every year; its last review was in February 2024, but little is known about the current status of the agreement.

Meitei leaders have alleged the SoO groups have been working to strengthen themselves over the years by taking advantage of the ceasefire, until a time came to engineer a violent attack for a separate land. Geopolitical analysts have speculated the Kuki armed groups were used as mercenaries to fight Meitei and Naga militants operating in the India-Myanmar border – while the SoO groups’ demand for separate territory carved out of Manipur is the unintended side effect of that alleged policy.

The Kuki tribes and the Meiteis have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation.

Imphal/Guwahati:

N Biren Singh, who resigned as Chief Minister of violence-hit Manipur days before President’s Rule with the assembly under animated suspension was imposed, in a long post on X today said the shift in Manipur’s demographic balance is not speculation, but “happening before our eyes.”

The Kuki tribes, who are dominant in some areas categorised as hill districts in Manipur, hold Mr Singh responsible for the outbreak of clashes in May 2023 over his policies that allegedly targeted the Kuki tribes.

The valley-dominant Meitei community blame an influx of illegal immigrants from neighbouring Myanmar and alleged mushrooming of unrecognised villages across the state as the root cause of the ethnic clashes.

Land rights and political representation are also among issues that have contributed to tensions.

Mr Singh shared an old post from November 8, 2022 showing a 26-year-old Myanmar national who was arrested for carrying the Aadhaar card of an Indian who had died.

“Flashback to 2022: A Myanmar national with a fake Indian Aadhaar card. How many more remain undetected till today?” Mr Singh said in the post.

“Our land and identity are under threat. With a small population and limited resources, we stand vulnerable. I monitored and detected illegal immigration tirelessly until May 2, 2023. But after the tragic events of 3rd May, 2023 our state machinery has struggled to respond effectively.

“An unguarded 398-km border with Myanmar and the Free Movement Regime (FMR) were rapidly shifting Manipur’s demographic balance. This is not speculation, it is happening before our eyes. Since our government took charge in March 2017, the challenge has only intensified. After the May 3, 2023 incident, the situation has become even more critical,” Mr Singh said.

“Manipur is a small state, with a small population and no significant resources. We have only three MPs to represent us in the nation’s highest decision-making body. Yet, we have always stood with pride, resilience, and an unbreakable spirit.

“Illegal immigration continues to be on the rise, threatening the very fabric of our society. So far, we have only identified a fraction of those who have entered our land. But what about the ones who remain undetected to this day? I urge all concerned authorities to take serious note and intensify efforts to detect and deport illegal immigrants from Manipur. As for me, I will continue this fight with unwavering commitment in every way I can,” Mr Singh said.

“The challenge before us is not just ours alone, it carries consequences far beyond our borders,” he added.

Flashback to 2022: A Myanmar national with a fake Indian Aadhaar card. How many more remain undetected till today?

My Dear Indigenous Friends,

Our land and identity are under threat. With a small population and limited resources, we stand vulnerable. I monitored and detected… https://t.co/ivUX7gDvt9

— N. Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) February 13, 2025

What Next In Manipur

The President’s Rule was imposed for the 11th time in Manipur today since 1951.

Sources in the Manipur administration said that for a start, they expect the central security forces to neutralise armed groups, disarm everyone from both sides, open up highways in the hill and valley areas, ensure airport access for all, and work out ways to rebuild, compensate and provide safety for internally displaced people to return home.

A communique from the office of President Droupadi Murmu said after receiving a report from Governor Ajay Bhalla and “after considering the report and other information received by me, I am satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the Government of that State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of India”.

The move by the Centre came as the state BJP failed to come to a consensus on the chief ministerial candidate and the assembly could not be convened.

The BJP was hoping to pick a chief minister after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned from his visit to the US. But meanwhile, the gap in the convening of state assembly threatened to pass the constitutionally approved maximum time of six months.

Article 174(1) of the Constitution says that state assemblies have to be convened no later than six months after their last sitting.

In the case of Manipur, the last sitting was on August 12, 2024. The budget session of the assembly, which was expected to begin on Monday, had to be postponed indefinitely after Mr Singh and his Council of Ministers stepped down. 

The deadline for convening the assembly was today and in the evening, President’s Rule had to be declared in the state.

Imphal:

The umbrella body of civil society organisations of the Meitei community in Manipur has alleged statements issued by its Kuki counterparts in recent times show they want “to create circumstances that validate their long-standing demand for a separate administration.”

The Coordination Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) in a statement said even when the Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh stepped down “for the larger good”, Kuki civil society groups have “found another pretext to continue their movement for a separate administration.”

COCOMI’s statement comes amid the spectre of President’s Rule looming large over the violence-hit state after the chief minister resigned on Sunday, a day before a no-confidence motion to be introduced by the Congress in the budget session of the assembly, which was cancelled by the Governor.

The Meitei civil society organisation alleged their Kuki counterparts have “consistently sought new justifications to sustain unrest, making their own people suffer while capitalising on their discontent to push their vested political agenda.”

“COCOMI urges the government of India to recognise this systematic agenda and take firm measures to hold accountable any individual, organisation, or group that justifies instability and violence as a means to pursue their political ambitions. The people of Manipur deserve peace, stability, and a resolution that upholds the integrity of the state,” it said.

The valley-dominant Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation.

Churachandpur-based Kuki organisation Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) and the Kangpokpi-based Kuki group Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) are in the forefront of the call for a separate administration carved out from Manipur, so are the 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs in the 60-member Manipur assembly and nearly a dozen Kuki-Zo militant groups that have signed a ceasefire (Suspension of Operations, or SoO Agreement).

The Kuki tribes and the opposition Congress party in Manipur have said the chief minister’s resignation is “too little, too late”. They have not given any indication of agreeing for talks unless they get separate administration, and an investigation is ordered into the alleged role of the chief minister in instigating the violence.

While Kuki leaders and militants under the SoO agreement have pointed at the ethnic clashes that began in May 2023 as the reason why they escalated their demand from an autonomous council to a separate administration, or a Union Territory with an assembly, Meitei leaders have cited numerous protests in the past by the Kuki tribes seeking separation, or “Kukiland”, a land of their own.

The World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council (WKZIC) in a memorandum to the Manipur Governor on January 15 said the Kuki tribes have been demanding a state “since 1946-47.”

“We have been demanding Constitutional Kukiland state under Article 3 of the Indian Constitution, since 1946-47 to the first Prime Minister of India PM Jawaharlal Nehru in the name of Kuki National Assembly (KNA), resurged by Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM), Kuki State Demand Committee (KSDC) and KNO-UPF who were under SoO with GoI [government of India] since 2008, to safeguard and in recognition of our community’s rights, including our right to self-determination, cultural identity, and linguistic heritage,” the WKZIC said in the memorandum, which also detailed hardships of the Kuki tribes since India’s Independence.

Over 250 people have been killed and 50,000 have been internally displaced in the Manipur clashes that began nearly two years ago.

Imphal/Guwahati:

A key tripartite meeting was held on Thursday between the Centre, the Manipur government, and the United Naga Council (UNC) over the Naga body’s demand for rollback of “arbitrarily created” seven districts.

A senior Manipur Home Department officer said that after the threadbare discussion in the meeting, it was mutually agreed that a proposal would be presented by the representatives of the state government in the next round of tripartite meetings, scheduled in April.

In Thursday’s meeting, held in Naga-dominated Senapati district, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) adviser for northeast affairs AK Mishra, Manipur Chief Secretary Prashant Kumar Singh, Home Commissioner N Ashok Kumar, and four Naga leaders including UNC chief NG Lorho and general secretary Vareiyo Shatsang were present.

The previous round of tripartite talks held on November 29 last year did not yield any result.

The seven districts were created under controversial circumstances in December 2016 by the then Congress government when O Ibobi Singh was chief minister. He was a three-term chief minister from 2002 to 2017.

The UNC, which is the top body of the Naga tribes in Manipur, had fiercely objected to the decision to create the new districts.

The UNC has said the seven new districts encroached upon ancestral lands of the Naga tribes.

It was also under Mr Ibobi’s Congress government in Manipur that Any Kuki Tribes (AKT) were included into the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category in 2003. The AKT is not a distinct tribe like the Thadou and many other tribes which are collectively known as Kuki.

The tripartite talks come at a time when the Kuki tribes and the Meiteis have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation.

Guwahati/New Delhi:

A top official of Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) has requested the two communities in Manipur that have been fighting since May 2023 to stop violence and start dialogue for reconciliation, citing how Bodoland achieved peace after decades of unrest.

Pramod Boro, BTC chief executive member and president of the Assam-based United People’s Party Liberal, told NDTV the two communities will not achieve anything if they keep fighting.

He said Manipur had been peaceful for 10-15 years before the May 2023 violence broke out, and “will take decades to rebuild” what it lost in the ethnic conflict.

“I don’t know what they [two communities in Manipur] are thinking, but they have to understand fighting and communal conflict will not give them anything, whatever they are aiming for,” Mr Boro told NDTV.

“Before this [ethnic violence] happened, there was peace in Manipur for the last 10-15 years, because of which the Armed Forces (Special) Powers Act was removed from many areas. Manipur was in national attention for its achievements in sports, literature, cultural matters, and many other things,” Mr Boro said. “After this conflict, I have seen that Manipur will need decades to rebuild what it lost. So they [the two communities] have to realise that fighting will not achieve anything.”

He cited the example of how Bodoland lost decades worth of development due to violence before the major peace deal, now known as the Bodo Peace Accord, was signed between the Centre, the Assam government and Bodo groups in January 2020.

Broadly, as part of the Bodo peace deal, members of the armed group National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) were rehabilitated; issues linked to Bodo people living outside of the erstwhile Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) were settled; steps were taken to protect the Bodo’s social, cultural, linguistic and ethnic identities; legislative protection for the land rights of tribals were provided, and quick development of tribal areas was assured.

“If you keep fighting, the central government also sometimes becomes helpless. Bodoland already faced decades of violence and there was a huge loss which we can’t imagine now. So, I request our brothers and sisters in Manipur, please start reconciliation among your parties, your teams, your groups,” Mr Boro said.

“This is the only solution. I think the central government is ready to listen and help because in the Bodoland issue also, anytime when we demanded, the central government was always there to help. My request is to stop violence and start reconciliation, dialogue and discussion, find out the problems, the issues, and try to resolve it,” Mr Boro said.

Bodoland Peace Model In Manipur?

In Manipur, no leader has yet raised whether the Bodoland peace model can be replicated in the state due to the cross-border implications of the ethnic tension.

The Bodoland issue was landlocked. But the Manipur violence involves the Kuki tribes whose kindred tribes live in neighbouring Myanmar, where ethnic insurgents are fighting the junta. The Kuki tribes have objected to border fencing and any move to entirely scrap the free movement regime, which allows people from either side of the border to travel without passport and visa up to certain kilometres on both sides.

The Meitei community has alleged decades of the open-border policy with Myanmar have backfired, with illegal immigrants settling down and raising hundreds of new villages to call them ancestral land in due time. The Kuki tribes also follow the hereditary chieftainship system, under which village chiefs own massive tracts of land. Neighbouring Mizoram scrapped the chieftainship system.

Leaders of the Kuki tribes have refuted allegations the tribes have been sheltering illegal immigrants for demographic engineering. They have said powerful people in the valley want to grab their lands, and so made up the illegal immigrants story to scare people into becoming hostile.

Bodoland Development

Bodoland has been developing well in the last five years since the peace deal was signed, Mr Boro said, adding the very objective of the accord was to ensure peace and sustain it.

“Now we can see a transformation and fulfilment of the objectives of the accord we signed. Before that, the region was unstable with bloodshed and violence for almost four decades. After the agitation began [for a third time] for Bodoland statehood and the negotiations started, we tried to understand the issues from both sides. One was our aspiration, while the other was constitutional provisions.

“In between, there was negotiation with the government of India… the NDFB, the students’ union and other groups finally came together and tried to understand, connect with each other. Somehow we managed to understand aspirations, objectives, agenda of the movement… and came to a conclusion that unless we can resolve this issue, the Bodo people cannot see development, their economy, education and other aspects will suffer… We believed at that time that unless we signed the accord, we couldn’t think of our development,” Mr Boro told NDTV.

The past 5 years have brought unprecedented peace in our region. BTR is today a land of optimism and opportunity.#5YearsOfBodoAccord pic.twitter.com/nUacVGDk8i

— Pramod Boro (@PramodBoroBTR) January 29, 2025

In Manipur, the clashes between the valley-dominant Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have killed over 250 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000. There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the valley.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Imphal/New Delhi:

An umbrella body of civil society groups of Manipur’s Meitei community has condemned the kidnapping for ransom and murder of a man in the violence-hit state.

The Meitei Alliance, an apex body of civil society groups of the valley-dominant community, in a statement said it is “crucial to keep legal issues free from communal divisions, as unity and justice are of paramount importance.”

The Manipur Police said six suspected members of the ‘Arambai Tenggol’ (AT) have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and killing Md Nawash, 33, on January 14. The body was found two days later, the police said.

Nawash was kidnapped from his house in Imphal East district’s Kairang Mayai Leikai neighbourhood, the police said, adding he was brought dead at Thoubal district hospital on January 16.

The six suspected members of the ‘Arambai Tenggol’ have been identified as Sagolsem Chingkheinganba Singh, 25; Chingakham Sanatomba Singh, 19; Sapam Somorjit Singh, 32; Maibam Bokenjit Singh, 24; Athokpam Jiban Singh, 30, and Chingakham Mani Singh, 41.

The Meitei Alliance thanked the police for their swift response in arresting the six suspects.

“We strongly call for a thorough investigation and prompt prosecution to ensure accountability. The Meitei Alliance also acknowledges and honours the significant contributions of the Meitei Pangal [Muslim] community to the state’s rich history, particularly the role they played in protecting Manipur,” the Meitei Alliance said.

“The Meitei Alliance stands united with the people of Manipur in condemning all forms of violence and urges everyone to respect the rule of law, refraining from taking matters into their own hands or making communal comments, especially on social media,” it said.

In connection with an incident of abduction of one Md. Nawash, 33 years, S/o Md. Leharuddin of Keirang Mayai Leikai PS – Heingang from his house on 14.01.2025 for ransom by suspected members of AT, who was later brought dead today at Thoubal District hospital, Manipur Police has…

— Manipur Police (@manipur_police) January 16, 2025

Police records show several AT members have been arrested and some have been summoned by local courts in the last few months. On December 3, three AT members who were planning to extort money from the public and government officials were arrested in the state capital Imphal.

The Arambai Tenggol maintains it started out as a youth group, but took up arms after ethnic clashes with the Kuki tribes began in May 2023. Locally known as AT, it faces charges of looting weapons from police armouries, acts which it says were necessary to protect the Meitei community from heavily armed Kuki militants and due to ineffective action by the security forces in the early days of the ethnic clashes.

Several military and paramilitary leaders have said armed groups from both sides – many of them call themselves “volunteers” – are involved in the Manipur violence.

There are hundreds of videos from the Manipur conflict where Kuki and Meitei ‘volunteers’ are seen brandishing assault rifles, sniper guns, machine guns, grenade launchers, etc.

Imphal/New Delhi:

The police chief of Manipur’s Kangpokpi district who was injured in protests by members of the Kuki tribes on Friday had been fighting extortionists and pushing back against a call for a meeting “with all police personnel” by a civil society group, intelligence sources told NDTV.

They cited two flash messages sent by Kangpokpi district Superintendent of Police (SP) Manoj Prabhakar – a month apart – to all officers in charge of police stations and outposts in the district, asking them not to give in to demands for money by “unlawful groups” and not to attend a meeting of “all police personnel of Kangpokpi district” called by a Kangpokpi-based Kuki group.

Mr Prabhakar, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who suffered a gash on his forehead amid the protest by members of the Kuki tribes on Friday, sent the first flash message on November 19, ordering all police personnel in Kangpokpi district to guard against extortion attempts by “unlawful groups”, sources who have access to the message told NDTV.

“It is learnt from sources that some unlawful groups are demanding money from Kpi [Kangpokpi] district police. In this regard, it is ordered to instruct your police personnel not to give money to such groups. Any police personnel found partying to such groups will face disciplinary action,” the message sent on November 19 to all officers in charge of police stations and outposts in the district 45 km from the state capital Imphal said.

Add image caption here

Police personnel, especially the junior ranks who live with their families in Kangpokpi, are vulnerable to demand for money by unlawful groups, the sources said, adding the SP was aware of this.

The IPS officer sent the second flash message to all police stations in Kangpokpi on December 19 – a day before a meeting called by a Kuki group – cautioning police personnel against attending the meeting without permission, sources said.

“It is learnt from a msg. being circulated across social media platforms that CoTU (Committee on Tribal Unity) has called all police personnel of Kpi [Kangpokpi] dist. for a meeting on 20th Dec. 2024 at 2:00 PM in Keithelmanbi community hall. In this regard, officers and personnel of all ranks are instructed to not attend the meeting without prior permission. Anyone attending the meeting without prior permission will face disciplinary action,” the SP said in the message, referring to the Kangpokpi-based Kuki group CoTU.

Add image caption here

Protesters from the Kuki tribes had clashed with central security forces in Kangpokpi on Friday night, days after they tried to stop the security forces from dismantling bunkers on the hills. The protesters had been looking to stop transport as part of their economic blockade enforced to demand the withdrawal of central forces from the hills in the district.

When the security forces asked them to fall back, they moved towards the office of the Kangpokpi deputy commissioner and the SP. The security forces responded with tear gas and blank firing. Individuals armed with automatic weapons were also seen out in the roads amid the protesters. The militant organisation Kuki National Front (KNF), which signed the suspension of operations (SoO) agreement with the Centre and the state government, is a dominant group in Kangpokpi.

The SP was hit by some projectile thrown by the mob. Visuals showed blood trickling down his forehead, above the right eyelash.

CoTU on Sunday called off the blockade, marking a temporary pause in over a week of unrest in Kangpokpi district.

Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Saturday ordered the Director General of Police Rajiv Singh to prioritise the safety and security of people. The Governor also told army and paramilitary officers to fully cooperate with the administration in maintaining law and order, officials said.

Extortion In Manipur

The Kangpokpi SP’s message to police personnel to guard against demand for money by “unlawful groups”, however, is symptomatic of a wider problem that has been spreading in recent months.

There has been numerous extortion threats by groups of armed people in Manipur, especially in urban areas such as Imphal city and the district headquarters in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi, sources have said, adding these groups have been taking advantage of the Manipur crisis that have kept the police and the security forces occupied on maintaining peace.

Many shop owners in Imphal, for example, have complained of being forced to pay up by armed people, despite failing businesses due to no economic activity for over a year since ethnic violence began in May 2023 between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the Kuki tribes, who are dominant in the hill areas of southern Manipur bordering Myanmar and some areas in the north.

The news website The Print reported that the Meitei insurgent group United National Liberation Front (UNLF) “reportedly collected lakhs as ‘donations’ from several politicians, according to documents recovered as ‘digital evidence’, now part of a chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate.”

The Manipur Police frequently post updates on X with arrested members of the Arambai Tenggol and Kangleipak Communist Party (People’s War Group), or KCP(PWG), for alleged extortion and threats.

The KCP(PWG) is likely being used as “hired guns” to attack civilians and carry out extortion in the valley areas in order to keep tension simmering, top intelligence sources told NDTV on December 16 based on initial investigation.

They declined to say who hired these insurgents to create terror in the valley areas, citing the investigation is in an early stage.

Manipur Deadlock

Kuki civil society groups such as the Churachandpur-based Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) and the CoTU, and their 10 MLAs have joined the call for a separate administration carved out of Manipur, a demand also made by the nearly two dozen militant groups that have signed the SoO agreement.

This single demand has brought the Kuki militant groups, the 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs, and the civil society groups on the same page.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the Kuki tribes have killed over 250 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Guwahati/New Delhi:

Lachit Borphukan Police Academy (LBPA) in Assam’s Dergaon saw a momentous occasion on Monday when nearly 2,000 recruits of the Manipur Police participated in their passing out ceremony, ready to serve their state amid the ongoing challenges.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who attended the passing out ceremony, said very old ties between Assam and Manipur are seeing a new bonding.

“As the situation is not good in Manipur, IRB (India Reserve Battalion) training wasn’t possible there. When I asked Himanta Biswa Sarma ji, he immediately agreed to facilitate training in Assam. I am extremely grateful to him, his colleagues in the government and the Assam DGP,” Mr Singh said.

“Today, I attended their passing out parade, and it is such a good feeling. The situation in Manipur is complex; it will take time to heal, but gradually it’s getting better,” the Chief Minister said.

Assam and Manipur Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya also attended the passing out ceremony at the police academy known for its rigorous and comprehensive training programmes.

This batch of recruits was drawn from nine IRBs and six Manipur Rifles battalions, reflecting the state’s diverse communities – Meiteis (62 per cent), Kukis (12 per cent), Nagas (26 per cent), and other tribes.

Mr Singh said the recruits will be posted together as a “team” in an attempt to bring back peace in the ethnic violence-hit state.

“Community-wise division took place due to the present situation. It was not like this earlier, and I will not allow this to happen in future,” Mr Singh told reporters after the ceremony, adding the newly trained personnel will have to do everything together in the manner in which they were trained.

“We have to start working together to bring peace to the state. Their postings will be together. We will not break the team. We will try to restore the unity of earlier Manipur,” Mr Singh said.

Impressive display of skill and discipline by our recruits during the Unarmed Combat demonstration!

I appreciate the true spirit of courage and preparedness of the new recruits. Keep up the exceptional efforts as you continue to serve and protect with honor. My best wishes to… pic.twitter.com/KJM2voLvhG

— N. Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) December 23, 2024

Their training covered a comprehensive curriculum – physical fitness, unarmed combat, disaster management, law and policing, crowd control, and tactical operations.

“The recruits arrived with significant challenges. At least 50 per cent were overweight, including 5 per cent classified as obese, and 31 per cent fell into the 30-40 age group, presenting unique physical demands,” an official of the top police academy said.

By the end of the programme, only 5 per cent remained overweight due to chronic medical conditions, a testament to the academy’s rigorous training regimen, the official said.

New Delhi:

In a first, a Starlink dish and router have been seized allegedly from a Meitei insurgent group in Manipur, raising concerns over the use of the internet by insurgents to coordinate attacks and communicate tactical information even during times of internet blackout, sources have said.

Finding a Starlink device in India in the hands of insurgents, however, does not mean it is usable in India, sources said.

Starlink, owned by billionaire Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX, is the world’s first and largest satellite constellation using a low Earth orbit to deliver broadband internet anywhere in the world where the service is licenced to operate.

Starlink is not available in India, though the American company has applied for regulatory clearance.

Elon Musk in a post on X said Starlink doesn’t operate in India. “This is false. Starlink satellite beams are turned off over India,” he said.

This is false. Starlink satellite beams are turned off over India.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2024

A joint team of the security forces found the Starlink dish and router along with an MA4 assault rifle, grenades and bullets from Imphal East district’s Khunou on December 13.

The police called the device “internet satellite antenna and internet satellite router”.

Search operations and area domination were conducted by security forces in the fringe and vulnerable areas of hill and valley districts. During the search operations, the following items were recovered:
i. 01 (one) no. of MA4 Assault Rifle, 01 (one) no. of 12 Bore Single Barrel… pic.twitter.com/Ls4lwx9Opu

— Manipur Police (@manipur_police) December 13, 2024

The Indian Army’s Spear Corps in a post on X also posted visuals of a joint operation that the Assam Rifles and the Manipur Police carried out in the hill and valley regions of Churachandpur, Chandel, Imphal East, and Kangpokpi.

One of the visuals shows a white, rectangular dish and a router with the Starlink logo on it. The acronyms “RPF/PLA” are visible on the router in this photo.

This photo taken from a closer angle is of the same Starlink device that the security forces found on December 13, sources told NDTV, adding the security forces handed over the device to the police. 

“Acting on specific intelligence, troops of the Indian Army and Assam Rifles formations under Spear Corps carried out joint search operations in the hill and valley regions in the districts of Churachandpur, Chandel, Imphal East and Kangpokpi in Manipur, in close coordination with Manipur Police and other security forces and recovered 29 weapons comprising of snipers, automatic weapons, rifles, pistols, country made mortars, single barrel rifles, grenades, ammunition and war like stores,” the Spear Corps said in a post on X.

Acting on specific intelligence, troops of #IndianArmy and #AssamRifles formations under #SpearCorps carried out joint search operations in the hill and valley regions in the districts of Churachandpur, Chandel, Imphal East and Kagpokpi in #Manipur, in close coordination with… pic.twitter.com/kxy7ec5YAE

— SpearCorps.IndianArmy (@Spearcorps) December 16, 2024

The Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) is the political arm of the Meitei insurgent group People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which is one of the eight Meitei secessionist groups listed as banned organisations by the Union Home Ministry.

Starlink had launched the 12 by 19-inch rectangular dish in November 2021, in addition to its existing circular dish. The dimensions of the device with the Starlink logo in the visuals released by the security forces seem to match. The new generation dish is 20 by 12-inch.

Starlink has no licence to operate in neighbouring Myanmar, too.

However, the Myanmar Internet Project – a collective run since 2022 by researchers to track developments in the Myanmar digital space – has estimated some 3,000 Starlink connections across the country, used by both ethnic insurgents fighting the junta and the common people living in remote areas.

The Meitei insurgent group PLA has been operating in areas in Myanmar which are near the border with India.

The police declined to give more specific details about the “internet satellite antenna and internet satellite router”. Sources said investigation is at an early stage.

Imphal/New Delhi:

A social worker in Manipur whose non-profit work was billed as a success story in helping youth and women in the border state affected by gun violence, has run into a huge controversy over his comments in a YouTube interview in which he was heard talking about the “need for escalating the Manipur crisis” in order to keep the demand for a separate administration “alive”.

Jamkhojang Misao (aka Misao Hejang Hangmi aka Hejang Misao), founder director of the Integrated Social And Institutional Development for Empowerment (InSIDE-North East), in an interview on the YouTube channel ‘Nampi Media Jampilal’ said the struggle for a separate land has been going on since his forefathers’ time, and despite having multiple factions of insurgents with numerous different demands, all of them finally managed to agree on one issue – separate administration.

“However, the separate administration movement has reduced now. We will not get this chance anymore, and such an opportunity will not come again. We should use this moment to create an even more chaotic situation, so that anyone who sees us will say we can never live together,” Mr Misao said, referring to the Manipur ethnic violence between the Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur.

He spoke in his dialect in the interview, which was translated and corroborated by three sources from the Kuki tribes for NDTV.

“After the Manipur violence, the armed groups have come together on one demand. This is a work of God. But the Meiteis don’t want to give us a separate administration. SoO groups also signed that Manipur territorial integrity won’t be harmed. But God’s plan seems to be about giving the Kukis a nation, and I feel it is there. If there was no violence, we would not have got a chance to demand a separate administration,” Mr Misao said, referring to nearly two dozen Kuki-Zo militant groups that have signed the controversial suspension of operations (SoO) agreement, which lapsed in February this year. One of the clauses in the SoO agreement says Manipur’s territorial integrity will not be touched.

Calls to the phone numbers mentioned on InSIDE-North East’s website went unanswered.

He was among a group of people in the social service sector who was selected to meet former President Ram Nath Kovind in January 2020. He highlighted InSIDE-North East’s ‘Gun2Pen’ programme — among many other projects – which the non-profit said helped over 5,000 young people find the right path.

“It’s all God’s work… this indicates God has a plan for us. The buffer zone is the evidence of the separation. Despite all these gains, and God’s help, it seems we are unable to use the opportunity. The Meiteis started it, burnt our houses, killed our people, paraded women naked,” said Mr Misao, who belongs to Any Kuki Tribe (AKT) that was added to the Scheduled Tribes’ list in 2003.

“If they have created the situation, how do we escalate it more and more, and keep it alive, then our demand will be seriously considered? Now, the separate administration demand’s momentum is dying slowly. Even the Prime Minister in parliament says normalcy has come in Manipur. Schools are running, markets are running, government offices are also running, those who are going to grant us separate administration themselves say normalcy has returned,” Mr Misao said in the interview.

“Even if we don’t agree with the claim by the government that normalcy has returned, New Delhi has already declared normalcy. So, in a place where there is normalcy, who is going to take up our issues? When the government in parliament says there is normalcy, we need to do something to show evidence that there is no normalcy. That’s what’s required,” Mr Misao said.

Information on the central government’s non-profit organisation (NPO) database ‘Darpan’ shows Mr Misao registered the Integrated Social And Institutional Development for Empowerment in February 2013 in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district.

The public database contains unique identity numbers of NPOs. This unique ID number is mandatory if an NPO wants to take funds from government departments and ministries. Mr Misao’s NPO has been allotted a unique identity number – MN/2017/0177675 – which it can use to apply for grants from government departments and ministries.

“It is unfortunate that we are unable to take advantage of the situation. Whether armed groups or civil society groups or individuals, we have to introspect, take a look at the situation again as there is no complete normalcy yet. The world should know there will be no peace in Manipur without a solution. For leaders of the world and India to see, we have to do something so that they will know that Manipur needs a solution for peace,” the social worker from Kangpokpi district said.

He blamed leaders for the weakening of the resolve to demand a separate administration.

“… If God has shown us the path, the leaders should have guided the public forward… There was a guy in Nagaland, C Singson, who asked the Indian interlocutor in Bangkok during the Naga talks, why is the Kuki issue never brought up?

“The Indian interlocutor replied Kukis have never been an issue, and there is nothing to discuss about them. However, the Meiteis have with their actions against the Kukis, who never really had any grievances, have created a situation which has made the Indian government realise the Kukis have an issue.

“Not only the Indian government, the whole world has now recognised the Kukis’ problem. That problem has to be escalated more and more. If that problem is not escalated, then the demand we are putting forward is not politically strong and reasonable. The Meiteis have made us politically strong. But today, we don’t know how to take it forward. That’s very unfortunate,” Mr Misao said.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meiteis and the Kuki tribes have killed over 250 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category.

The Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.