Explained: Ahead of PM Modi’s visit to Manipur, significance of MHA’s two key announcements

Two, that the Churachandpur-based civil society organisation Kuki-Zo Council had “decided to open National Highway-02” for the “free movement” of commuters and essential groups after a series of meetings with MHA officials.

Here’s why these two announcements are significant for the conflict that has gripped Manipur for more than 27 months.

SoO agreement, lapse

The SoO agreement is essentially a tripartite ceasefire deal to initiate political dialogue. Signed in 2008, the agreement was between the Centre, the Manipur state government, and the KNO and the UPF, two umbrella groups comprising 24 separate Kuki-Zomi insurgent groups.

The SoO deal was renewed periodically before the Biren Singh-led state government unilaterally pulled out of the agreement with two groups, the Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA) and the Kuki National Army (KNA), in March 2023. Singh accused the ZRA and the KNA of “influencing agitation” after eviction notices were served to villages in the Kuki-Zo majority Churachandpur district.

After the conflict erupted in May, as insurgent groups on both sides of the Kuki-Meitei ethnic divide facilitated and participated in the violence, the agreement lapsed in 2024.

Renegotiated terms

According to the MHA, the revised ground rules in the agreement include honouring the “territorial integrity of Manipur” and working for a negotiated political solution to bring lasting peace and stability to the state.

According to the MHA, the KNO and the UPF have agreed to the following.

• Relocating Kuki militant camps from fringe areas. There are 14 Kuki militant camps in hills of Manipur; seven are at the periphery of the Kuki-dominated hills, near the Meitei-dominated valley. Meiteis have long called for these camps’ relocation, alleging that they are used to launch attacks on nearby Meitei villages.

The revised SoO will also facilitate consolidation of smaller camps into bigger ones, thus reducing the number of camps.

• Depositing their weapons at the nearest CRPF/BSF camps. This will assuage allegations that weapons from militant camps were being used to launch attacks.
• Submitting their cadres to stringent physical verification and to de-list foreign nationals, if any. MHA sources said the agreement will see all cadres being issued identity cards or certificates, and their movement out of camps being regulated. Cadres will be asked to report to local police stations while moving out of camps.

Sources said remuneration of cadres, which is provided by the government, has also been renegotiated, and will now be deposited directly in their bank accounts instead of being distributed through commanders to ensure transparency.

“A Joint Monitoring Group will henceforth closely monitor enforcement of the ground rules, and violations will be dealt with firmly… including review of the SoO Agreement,” the MHA statement said.

Kuki demands also met

The government has already taken care of some key Kuki demands, including for the removal of Biren Singh as Chief Minister. The hill tribes have long alleged that Singh had been partisan during the ethnic conflict. In fact, it was only after the imposition of President’s Rule in Manipur in February that Kuki militant groups began engaging with the Centre.

Another Kuki concern was regarding Valley-based Meitei insurgent groups who managed to carve a foothold in Imphal, and were operating freely despite being banned. In November, 2023, the government had signed a peace agreement with the UNLF, one of the oldest militant groups in the Valley.

The government is now erecting camps for the UNLF and is also preparing ID cards of UNLF cadres who will be staying in these camps. Sources indicated the process is nearing completion.

Mixed reactions

On Friday evening, COCOMI, an Imphal-based Meitei civil society organisation, condemned the renewal of the SoO agreement, and alleged that it extends “overwhelming legitimacy” to “armed narco-terrorist groups.” COCOMI also opposed the signing of a tripartite to which the Manipur state government is a party while the state is under President’s Rule.

On the Kuki-Zo side, the most keenly watched clause in the deal was regarding the “territorial integrity of Manipur”. A separate administration has been the primary demand of Kuki-Zo groups since the beginning of the conflict, while Meitei groups have firmly maintained that Manipur’s territorial integrity cannot be compromised.

The clause has caused some unease in the hills. The insurgent group United Kuki National Army, which is not a signatory to the SoO agreement, issued a statement Friday objecting to the deal and, in particular, to the clause on territorial integrity.

However, sources among Kuki groups claim that the clause alone does not amount to abdicating the demand for separate administration, and that the words “a negotiated political solution” in the agreement give ample space to make this demand.

Civil society organisations such as the Kuki-Zo Council and the Zomi Council have asserted that the push for separate administration will continue to be their primary goal.

‘Free movement’ on NH-02

The geographical and demographic divide brought on by the conflict has meant that inter-district boundaries have hardened, and people from Kuki-Zo communities have not freely or safely moved through Meitei-majority areas and vice-versa.

The free movement of people and goods across the state has been one of the primary goals of the government since imposition of the President’s Rule in Manipur, and it has been touted as the most crucial step towards re-establishing peace and bringing normalcy back to the strife-torn state. At the same time, an understanding on this has been stiffly opposed by Kuki-Zo groups, who have been pushing for a settlement on their political demands first.

“Free movement” was one of the first announcements made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah after President’s Rule was imposed in February; he even set a deadline of March 8 for implementing it. But this backfired: one person had died and many others were injured in Kuki-Zo majority Kangpokpi district on March 8 when after clasing with security forces escorting a Manipur State Transport bus travelling from Imphal to Naga-majority Senapati via Kangpokpi on NH-02.

On Thursday, while announcing the signing of the SoO agreement, the MHA also announced that the Kuki-Zo Council has decided “to open the National Highway-02 for the free movement of commuters and essential goods”, and that the decision came “after a series of meetings between officials of MHA and a delegation of KZC in the last few days at New Delhi”. The KZC also issued an appeal to the people in Kangpokpi to cooperate with security forces deployed by the Centre.

However, this announcement immediately ran into controversy among Kuki-Zo groups who have alleged that the MHA’s statement is misleading.

“There are no blockades on the highway in Kangpokpi. Vehicles carrying essential commodities have already been moving without any issue through Kangpokpi. So to single out the public here and to say that we are ‘opening’ the highway is false. At the same time, the term ‘free movement’ is very vague. The cooperation of the public for movement of vehicles on the highway cannot be taken to mean that they consent to Meiteis moving freely in the hills and the villages here,” said a Kangpokpi-based civil society leader who did not want to be named.

Also, while the government had announced a deal with Kukis on free movement, no such commitment had come from Meitei groups. “People from hill areas are forced to take flights from Mizoram as they are scared of going to Imphal,” another Kuki leader said.

Amidst the discontent, within hours of the MHA’s announcement, the Kuki-Zo Council issued a “clarification” that its appeal must not be “misinterpreted as an endorsement of unrestricted or free movement across the buffer zones”.