Manipur: Different organisations unanimously urged Amit Shah not to renew SoO

Four organisations —  Indegenous people forum Manipur, Meitei Alliance, Foothill Naga coordination committee and Thadou Inpi — have submitted a joint memorandum to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, urging the Government of India not to renew the Suspension of Operations (SoO) Agreements with Kuki militant groups, alleging repeated violations and a failure to maintain law and order.

In the memorandum, the groups claimed that the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and United People’s Front (UPF), which are signatories to the SoO agreements, were responsible for inciting violence that began on May 3, 2023, in Churachandpur, including arson in Torbung and Kanvai.

The organisations stated that although the SoO Agreements were intended to ensure peace and lawfulness — explicitly barring violent acts, extortion, and possession of arms in public — these terms have been repeatedly breached. They pointed to a structural flaw within the agreement: the inclusion of the same militant groups in the Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) that is supposed to oversee violations, which, they argue, creates a conflict of interest and renders accountability impossible.

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“The very groups responsible for violence are part of the mechanism meant to monitor it,” the memorandum read, adding that this setup severely limits the Manipur government’s ability to act against violations.

The signatories further highlighted that the elected state government had officially withdrawn from the SoO with groups like the Kuki National Army (KNA) and Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA) in March 2023, and formally opposed their renewal in January 2024.

Calling for peace and accountability, the memorandum recommended either abrogation of the SoO agreements or a comprehensive overhaul of their structure. It also called for a re-election in the state to allow a popular government to decide on any future agreements, and for prosecution of any militants involved in violence, even if they are signatories to the SoO.

The groups emphasized that the SoO must not become a “protector of violence” but a genuine mechanism for ensuring non-violence and restoring normalcy in Manipur.