GUWAHATI: Naga organisations held simultaneous rallies in Manipur’s violence-hit Ukhrul and Kamjong districts on Thursday, urging the Centre to recognise the crisis as a historical problem rooted in alleged illegal Kuki immigration and hill-valley disparities, end “proxy warfare” and find a permanent political solution.
The rallies were organised by Tangkhul Naga organisations under the aegis of the United Naga Council, the apex Naga body in Manipur. Both Ukhrul and Kamjong are Naga-majority districts.
In a joint memorandum, the organisations sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to resolve the crisis. They said that while the Meitei-Kuki conflict continued, an assault on a Naga civilian in February this year opened another front in the violence, followed by killings, abductions and arson attacks on Naga civilians, allegedly by Kuki rebels.
“Till date, more than 32 Naga civilians have been killed. The most gruesome of all being the recovery of the mutilated bodies of six abducted Liangmai Nagas on 10th June, 2026…The latest being the brutal murder of Ajinbou Ringkangmai on 10th October, 2026. He was beheaded alive,” the memorandum read.
Alleging that the main culprits were still at large, the organisations said the conflict was rooted in “historical demographic distortions caused by skewed Kuki refugee/immigration policy and the influx of illegal Kuki immigrants from Burma.”
“From barely 73 villages as per the 1881 census, the number of Kuki villages within the state of Manipur presently has been mushroomed into as many as 1878. Swathes of tribal lands and tracts of village hills and mountains are being encroached upon by the Kuki militants for running their poppy plantation cartels,” the memorandum further read.
The organisations urged the Centre to stop the “militarisation” of Naga areas and withdraw the Assam Rifles from the region. They also sought the identification of all Kuki refugees and alleged illegal immigrants, followed by their repatriation and deportation to their countries of origin within a fixed timeframe.
They further urged the Centre not to grant any separate homeland, administrative arrangement or territorial council to the Kukis that could affect the integrity of Naga ancestral territories. They also demanded the revocation of the Suspension of Operations agreement with Kuki rebel groups, the disarming and arrest of their members, and the relocation of internally displaced persons from Naga-inhabited areas.