Reintegration with Manipur ‘no longer possible’: Kuki-Zo groups press for union territory with legislature

Kuki-Zo groups operating under the Suspension of Operations (SoO) framework have conveyed to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that reintegration with the State of Manipur is no longer a feasible option, asserting that the creation of a Union Territory (UT) with a Legislature remains the only constitutional and viable solution to the prolonged crisis in the State.

The position was firmly articulated during the second round of tripartite talks held in New Delhi, involving representatives of the MHA, the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), the United People’s Front (UPF), and officials from the Manipur Government. According to a joint statement issued after the meeting, deliberations focused on land rights, governance failures, and the post-May 3, 2023 security and humanitarian situation in Manipur’s hill districts.

The Kuki-Zo delegations were led by senior leaders of the KNO and UPF, while the Centre was represented by the Government of India’s Security Advisor for the North East. A senior official attended on behalf of the Manipur Government.

During the discussions, the Kuki-Zo groups reiterated that tribal land in Manipur’s hill areas has historically been vested in village chiefs under customary law, forming the backbone of hill governance. They alleged that successive State governments have systematically diluted these traditional institutions through policy measures that undermined customary authority and land ownership.

The delegations maintained that only a Union Territory with a Legislature could provide a constitutionally coherent governance structure capable of safeguarding traditional land rights, ensuring neutral administration, and restoring public trust.

Describing the current situation as an existential crisis rather than a routine administrative conflict, the KNO and UPF stated that the complete physical separation of communities since May 3, 2023, coupled with the alleged use of State machinery against tribal citizens, has irreparably fractured relations between the Kuki-Zo people and the Manipur Government.

“Reintegration under the existing State administrative framework is no longer possible,” the statement asserted, adding that prevailing ground realities have rendered the current arrangement untenable.

The groups further argued that the 2023 violence was not an isolated episode, but the culmination of decades-long policies aimed at dispossessing tribal communities of their ancestral lands through aggressive land reforms and political coercion. They contended that a Union Territory Legislature alone would possess the neutrality and authority required to halt this process.

Raising concerns about developments preceding the violence, the Kuki-Zo groups accused the Manipur Government of pursuing a sustained vilification campaign, branding indigenous villagers as “encroachers” and “illegal immigrants” to justify eviction drives in hill areas.

They also alleged that administrative boundaries between hill and valley regions were deliberately diluted through executive orders, including those issued in June 2011, which extended the jurisdiction of valley-based police stations into hill subdivisions. This, they claimed, placed Kuki-Zo security under valley-centric forces during the May 2023 violence, exacerbating the community’s vulnerability.

On land administration, the KNO and UPF accused valley-based sub-registrars of illegally registering land deeds in hill districts, resulting in overlapping jurisdictions across hundreds of villages. Such actions, they alleged, violated the Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act, 1960, and undermined the authority of the Hill Areas Committee (HAC).

The groups insisted that both policing and land records must be entirely removed from the control of the Manipur State Government to ensure impartial law enforcement, transparent governance, and accurate, non-partisan land administration.

Declaring that the social contract between the Kuki-Zo people and the State of Manipur has collapsed irretrievably, the statement said constitutional safeguards under Article 371C had failed in practice, with the HAC repeatedly bypassed and rendered ineffective.

“A people cannot be governed by a government that has enabled their own ethnic cleansing,” the statement said, reiterating that the establishment of a Union Territory with a Legislature remains the only constitutional and viable path towards justice, security, normalcy, and enduring peace.

The statement was jointly issued by the United People’s Front and the Kuki National Organisation.