Amid continuing violence between the Naga and Kuki communities in Manipur, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is yet to extend the Suspension of Operations (SoO) pact with the Kuki-Zo insurgent groups, a month after the one-year agreement expired.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to visit Senapati, a Naga-dominated district in Manipur, on October 7. This will be his second visit to the State since the 2023 violence. He had visited Imphal in April 2024 to address a political rally ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Additional forces
During Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan’s review of the security situation in the State on September 30, a senior government official said it was decided to send 30 more companies of the CRPF (around 3,000 personnel) and two battalions of CoBRA (around 2,000 personnel) for deployment in the State.
On September 4, 2025, the MHA, the Manipur Government, and the Kuki-Zo groups signed the SoO pact on “re-negotiated terms and conditions or ground rules,” after the Manipur Government in February 2024 refused to extend the agreement, in force since 2008, in the wake of the ethnic violence that erupted between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo people on May 3, 2023.
Pact in abeyance
Government sources told The Hindu that the pact is in abeyance till all weapons are surrendered by the Kuki-Zo groups. The presence of a large number of weapons with civilians is one of the prime drivers of violence and killings in the northeastern State, a government official said. Meitei and Naga civil society groups, including Deputy Chief Minister Losii Dikho, have demanded the abrogation of the SoO pact.
Due to Naga-Kuki ethnic tensions, more than 40 people have been killed in Ukhrul, Kangpokpi, and Kamjong districts since February 7, three days after President’s Rule was revoked in the State.
A member of the Kuki-Zo SoO group said the one-year agreement expired on September 4, but they were yet to hear anything from the MHA or Ajit Lal, MHA’s Adviser, Northeast, and the interlocutor for peace talks.
“The last meeting the SoO groups had with the interlocutor was on April 30. He had said that he will meet us every quarter. There has been so much violence in the State since February and he has not visited the affected areas even once,” the SoO member said.
The member claimed that security forces conduct regular inspections of SoO camps and all weapons are accounted for.
“Not extending the SoO pact does not mean it has been abrogated. Maybe the government is waiting for the dust to settle down before making a formal announcement. We have not heard anything from the government so far,” said the SoO member.
History of the pact
The tripartite pact was signed in 2008 by the United Peoples’ Front (UPF) and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), a coalition of 24 insurgent groups, the MHA, and the Manipur Government following the Kuki-Naga clashes in the 1990s that killed hundreds. The insurgent groups demanded an independent land for the Kuki-Zo people. The pact has been extended periodically since 2008.
After ethnic violence between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei people erupted in the State on May 3, 2023, there were strong demands from the valley areas to abrogate the SoO agreement.
Then Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh had claimed that SoO groups violated ground rules and instigated the violence. Meitei civil society groups have demanded that the pact not be extended by the MHA.
More than 250 people were killed and around 60,000 displaced in the Kuki-Zo-Meitei ethnic clashes.
The pact with new terms was signed on September 4, 2025, when the State was under President’s Rule, days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit (September 13) since ethnic violence between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei people erupted in the State on May 3, 2023.
In a September 18 interview with The Hindu, Aron Kipgen, UPF’s spokesperson, said they were about to finalise a political pact with the MHA and the Manipur Government, a day before ethnic violence between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei people erupted in Manipur on May 3, 2023, following Home Minister Amit Shah’s message to either seal the political settlement or wind up the pact.
Mr. Kipgen said negotiations before May 2023 focused on an autonomy arrangement with executive, financial, and judicial powers, but the post-violence displacement of Kuki-Zo people led the groups to shift their demand to a separate administration such as a Union Territory with a legislature or a similar constitutional arrangement.
Published – October 02, 2026 09:14 pm IST
