Security forces recently recovered a cache of weapons and ammunition from various insurgent groups in Manipur.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The revised Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement signed between the Ministry of Home Affairs, Manipur government and 24 Kuki-Zo insurgent groups on Thursday (September 4, 2025) lays down the mechanism to monitor activities of cadres, including a requirement that they obtain Aadhaar cards, according to details of the pact accessed by The Hindu.
According to the 2008 SoO pact, signed in the aftermath of the Kuki-Naga clashes in the 1990s, around 2,200 cadres under the umbrella of the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and United People’s Front (UPF) were entitled to a stipend of ₹6,000 per month, which was stopped since ethnic violence erupted in the State on May 3, 2023.
The revised pact, valid for a year, says stipend will be paid only through Aadhaar-linked bank accounts to those members who are present in the camps during inspection. Photo identity cards shall be provided by the Manipur Police, it says.
The agreement states that the KNO and UPF shall have six camps each, instead of the 14 they operate presently and the camps shall not be located close to populated areas, National Highways and within areas vulnerable to conflict. The camps are to be located at reasonable distance from the Myanmar border as well as inter-State boundaries.
Physical verification of cadres are to be carried out by a Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) headed by the Principal Secretary (Home) of the Manipur government. A complete list of the cadres will be prepared by the government with name, date of birth, and other details along with latest photographs.
Foreign nationals, if any, shall be deleted from the list of leaders and cadres, the pact says.
Presence of foreign nationals from Myanmar, belonging to the ethnic Chin-Kuki group, has been flagged by Meitei civil society groups and former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh as one of the factors that fuelled the ethnic violence.
The preamble of the pact said that in view of the serious law and order and security situation in Manipur since May 3, 2023, it was mutually agreed to review the implementation of the ground rules, and KNO and UPF shall “completely abjure the path of violence and abide by the Constitution of India, laws of the land, and territorial integrity of Manipur.”
“SoO agreement shall be followed by tripartite dialogue with KNO and UPF to pave the way for a negotiated political settlement under the Constitution of India in a time-bound manner,” it said.
The pact bars groups from having association with any other armed group, within the country or outside; from recruiting new cadres; and carrying out offensive operations against security forces, other groups, and the public. The Army, Assam Rifles, Central Armed Police Forces and the the State Police shall not launch operations against the groups “as long as they abide” by the agreement.
The ethnic conflict between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei people has claimed 250 lives so far and displaced more than 60,000 people from their homes.
Published – September 05, 2025 02:52 am IST
