Why Are Authorities Struggling in Hills While Valley Achieve 75 Percent Arms Recovery in Manipur?

Under Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla’s leadership since February 13, 2025, Manipur has made significant progress in curbing violence through arms recovery, particularly in the valley districts. 

However, the hill districts—Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal, and Chandel—lag far behind, with minimal recoveries and unrecovered weapons fueling unrest. 

To secure a unified and peaceful Manipur, the administration must urgently extend its valley successes to the hills with tailored operations that address unique challenges, enable free movement, and facilitate the return of internally displaced families. Equitable action is critical to heal the state’s divides and ensure lasting peace.

As of June 14, 2025, Manipur has marked a major milestone in restoring peace and public safety, with approximately 4,500 of an estimated 6,000 firearms looted from police stations and security forces recovered, achieving a 75 percent recovery rate. 

The initiative, launched by former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, saw significant progress in the valley after a renewed appeal by Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla in February 2025. A March 2, 2025 news report noted over 4,100 weapons had been voluntarily surrendered or recovered in the valley, with an additional 400 reclaimed by June, primarily through intensified security operations.

The Governor’s campaign began with a February 20, 2025, ultimatum demanding the surrender of illegal and looted arms, prompting a strong response in the valley districts of Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal, Bishnupur, and Kakching. In a landmark raid on the intervening night of June 13 and 14, 2025, joint forces—Manipur Police, Central Armed Police Forces, Army, and Assam Rifles—seized 328 sophisticated firearms in the valley. 

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Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Lhari Dorjee Lhatoo informed that the intelligence-based operations led to the recovery of 328 firearms, including151 SLR rifles, 65 INSAS rifles, 73 other rifles, 5 carbine guns, 2 MP-5 guns, a mortar, flare guns, an AR-15, grenades, detonators, lathodes, and extensive ammunition for SLR, INSAS, AK, and .303 rifles. These efforts have disrupted armed groups, curtailed clashes, and revitalized valley people, signaling a return to normalcy. Governor Bhalla’s bold vision deserves commendation for these transformative gains, which have restored hope where fear once dominated.

However, in stark contrast, the hill districts have seen negligible progress. This disparity demands urgent answers: Why have the hills been sidelined? How can peace endure when sophisticated arms and weapons remain in circulation Unrecovered firearms are not just a security threat; they are a barrier to unity, justice, and the restoration of normal life.

The public is questioning the whereabouts of sophisticated weapons, drones, and sniper rifles used by Kuki militants to target civilians and security forces. 

Concerns have been raised about whether these arms, held by Kuki militants under the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement, were misused in violation of ground rules. 
Just as arms recoveries in the valley are transparent, similar accountability is needed in the hills to ensure peace within next 2-3 months. One-sided operations risk undermining the Governor's peace efforts.

Since Manipur violence erupted on May 3, 2023, a wave of arms looting from state armories has left security forces scrambling to recover an alarming array of weapons, including AK-series rifles, Insas, Excalibur, and Ghaatak assault rifles, Amogh carbines, and MP5 sub-machine guns. 

Official estimates indicate around 6,000 weapons were looted from valley armories.

However, accurate data on looted and recoveries of weapons from the Kuki dominated hill areas remains suspicious. 

In Churachandpur alone, an armed group raided the district police headquarters armory, looting 154 .303 rifles, 71 SLRs, 27 Insas rifles, 27 sub-machine carbines, 11 AK rifles, and five 51mm mortars, among others.

In a surprising development, in the Kuki dominated hill regions, weapons not typically used by Manipur police were recovered. These included a Soviet-era SKS semi-automatic rifle, a 5.56mm M4 carbine marked “Property of US Govt.,” a NATO-standard assault weapon, an Italian-made 9mm pistol, a Swiss-marked .32 pistol, another .32 pistol labeled “Made in Francisco,” and a Pakistani-made M-79 40mm Lathode UBGL gun. 

Further compounding concerns, Kuki militants have been spotted with advanced firearms, including German-made Heckler & Koch MP5 rifles and folding AK-47s, with images circulating on social media. Kuki groups operating under Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreements with the Government of India does not entitled to use such weapons, breaking the ground rules of SoO. Notably, the recovery of Chinese- and US-made sophisticated weapons from Kuki groups in the hills suggests that foreign-supplied arms may be reaching these groups, potentially intended for attacks on Meitei communities and Indian security forces. 

Several factors explain the present administration’s struggles in the hills. Dense forests and remote villages pose logistical challenges, unlike the valley’s accessible terrain. Security operations struggle to penetrate isolated villages where narrow trails and thick jungles conceal arms caches. 

Furthermore, the Kuki CSOs attitude of challenging the authorities and  their open diktaks of not surrendering arms encourages the people to hide arms, unlike the valley’s robust networks that powered the June 2025 haul. These shortcomings have allowed sophisticated arms to persist, perpetuating unrest and deepening the valley-hill divide.

To bridge this gap, the administration must adapt the valley’s successful model—intelligence, community engagement, and decisive action—to the hills’ unique context. Operations should deploy small, agile units trained for mountain and forest combat to search remote villages, using drones with thermal imaging and ground-penetrating radar to locate hidden caches and overcome terrain barriers. Temporary forward operating bases in strategic hill locations can sustain operations, reducing reliance on distant valley logistics and enabling rapid response to intelligence. These bases would serve as hubs for raids targeting AK rifles, SLR rifles, or explosives, mirroring the valley’s precision strikes.

Resource allocation must reflect this priority. Reallocating CAPF units from the valley to the hills, even a few battalions, would bolster operational capacity. Equipment like all-terrain vehicles, night-vision goggles, and secure radios should be redirected to hill forces, ensuring they match the valley’s capabilities. Assam Rifles, with their expertise in Northeast terrain, should lead training in hill-specific tactics, refining raids for maximum impact. Increased funding can support mobile armories and helicopter deployments, breaking the terrain’s hold.

These investments would signal to hill communities that their security is as valued as the valley’s, fostering inclusion and unity.

Arms trafficking across the Myanmar border, a likely source of the Kuki militants weaponry, demands urgent action too. Enhanced surveillance in Churachandpur, Tengnoupal, and Chandel, using drones and additional Border Security Force patrols, can intercept smuggled weapons. 

Collaboration with central agencies like the National Investigation Agency can dismantle trafficking networks, while random checkpoints on hill roads and surprise raids in remote trading posts can disrupt arms movement. By choking this supply line, the administration can prevent new weapons from replacing those recovered, ensuring lasting impact. 

Governor Bhalla’s valley achievements chart a path forward, and his leadership merits praise. Yet, the mission remains incomplete. The administration must prioritize the hills, moving beyond the crude pipe guns and locally made rifles recovered to seize sophisticated arms. With tailored strategies—mobile raids, community trust, equitable resources, and border vigilance—Manipur can become whole. Intensified hill operations are not optional; they are the key to free movement, the return of displaced families, and a unified future. The urgency is undeniable: every day of delay risks lives and prolongs suffering. Manipur must act now to rise as one, valley and hills together, under a shared promise of peace.