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Islamabad: Manipur\u2019s freedom movement intensifies as Kuki-Zo groups have repeatedly demanded a separate administration of a Union Territory with its own legislature arguing that peaceful coexistence with Meiteis is no longer possible after the scale of attacks and perceived state bias.<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, the demand intensified in 2025\u20132026, with Kuki leaders conditioning support for any government on concrete progress toward separation.<\/p>\n
The ongoing violence in Manipur, which began in May 2023 between the Meitei and Kuki communities, has resulted in a severe humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n
The Manipur ethnic conflict is primarily between the Meitei (valley-dwelling, mostly Hindu, ~53% of population) and Kuki-Zo (hill tribes, mostly Christian) communities over land rights, Scheduled Tribe status for Meiteis (allowing hill land access and quotas), and resource disputes like poppy cultivation and alleged illegal immigration.<\/p>\n
Government figures as of November 2024 recorded 258 deaths and over 60,000 displaced, with later tallies reaching around 260 deaths; additional sporadic incidents, including the April 2026 bombing in Bishnupur\u2019s Tronglaobi village that killed two Meitei children and subsequent clashes, added to the toll.<\/p>\n
Over 1,500 injuries and significant property damage were also reported, with unofficial counts sometimes higher.<\/p>\n
The violence triggered widespread human rights violations, including reported extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, torture, destruction of over 300 villages (with thousands of houses burned, including around 1,700\u20134,786 in early phases), and hundreds of places of worship estimates range from 249 churches destroyed in the first 36 hours to over 400 churches damaged or burned overall, alongside temples vandalized.<\/p>\n
Multiple incidents of sexual violence occurred.<\/p>\n
A prominent case involved two Kuki women paraded naked and gang-raped in July 2023; one gang-rape survivor, a 20-year-old Kuki-Zo woman, died in January 2026 from prolonged injuries and trauma.<\/p>\n
International organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations have documented systemic impunity, failures by state and central authorities to protect civilians, and called for independent investigations into abuses by armed groups and security forces on both sides.<\/p>\n
Narcotics have further complicated the crisis.<\/p>\n
The state accused Kuki-dominated hill areas of large-scale poppy cultivation and cross-border drug trafficking linked to Myanmar, terming it \u201cnarco-terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Security forces destroyed thousands of acres in 2025\u20132026 operations (e.g., over 2,618 acres between November 2025 and February 2026, with specific drives of 306, 570, 600+ acres in various districts).<\/p>\n
Reports indicate involvement across communities, with the illicit economy allegedly fuelling militancy and deepening ethnic narratives.<\/p>\n
President\u2019s Rule was imposed on 13 February 2025 after N. Biren Singh\u2019s resignation as chief minister and revoked on 4 February 2026.<\/p>\n
A new BJP-led NDA government under Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh (Meitei) was installed, including Kuki and Naga deputy chief ministers in an attempt at inclusive representation.<\/p>\n
President\u2019s Rule and installing the popular government has worsened chaos and unrest.<\/p>\n
Current Chief Minister, former CM N. Biren Singh, and the BJP\u2019s \u201cdouble engine\u201d model have failed since 2023.<\/p>\n
Special forces remain heavily deployed, with authorities claiming intensified operations, including heliborne missions and combing, will soon suppress the lingering unrest.<\/p>\n
As of mid-April 2026, protests, shutdowns, and occasional flare-ups continue, leaving reconciliation elusive despite central intervention.<\/p>\n
Deep ethnic divisions, demands for justice, and competing narratives over governance and security keep the northeastern state in a state of fragile tension.<\/p>\n
State government under BJP Chief Minister N. Biren Singh (Meitei) faced widespread accusations of bias vilifying Kukis as “encroachers\/drug dealers,” patronizing Meitei groups like Arambai Tenggol, and police partisanship favoring Meiteis.<\/p>\n
The Modi government (BJP) was criticized for slow response, Modi’s initial public silence (months), failure to visit early, and reluctance to impose President’s Rule sooner or decisively curb the state CM, seen by critics as implicit tolerance of pro-Meitei tilt amid Hindu majoritarian undertones.<\/p>\n
Modi government failure causing millions of innocent lives at stake in Manipur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad: Manipur\u2019s freedom movement intensifies as Kuki-Zo groups have repeatedly demanded a separate administration of a Union Territory with its own legislature arguing that peaceful coexistence with Meiteis is no longer possible after the scale of attacks and perceived state bias. According to Kashmir Media Service, the demand intensified in 2025\u20132026, with Kuki leaders conditioning …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":169222,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/02\/manipur-india.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198570,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198569\/revisions\/198570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}