Manipur Naga bodies seek PM’s ‘personal’ intervention against armed Kuki groups aiding external aggression

GUWAHATI

Three Naga civil society organisations in Manipur have petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his “personal and urgent intervention” to check a “sustained campaign of violence and territorial aggression” by Kuki groups against Naga villages in the hill districts of the northeastern State.

Urging the Centre to rein in the Kuki armed groups operating under the Suspension of Operations (SoO) arrangement, the organisations sought the Prime Minister’s help to expedite an inclusive and honourable settlement of the Indo-Naga peace process based on the Framework Agreement. The Centre signed this agreement with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim, also called the NSCN (Isak-Muivah).

The memorandum, copies of which were released to the media on Saturday (May 9, 2026) evening, was signed by Ng Lorho, president of the United Naga Council, Ch Priscilla Thumai, president of the Naga Women’s Union, and Th Angtheshang Maring, president of the All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur.

The signatories alleged that Myanmar-based extremists of the Kuki National Army-Burma (KNA-B), aided by the SoO groups, have launched repeated attacks on Naga villages in Ukhrul, Kamjong, and other hill districts of Manipur.

They claimed that the May 7 attacks on Z. Choro, Namlee-Wanglee, and Kaka villages, in which many houses were burnt and residents displaced, amounted to a cross-border military invasion rather than an ordinary ethnic clash.

The three organisations said that the use of drones, rocket launchers, and other military-grade weapons, along with reports that scores of armed cadres crossed the India-Myanmar border, pointed to a well-coordinated foreign-backed assault.

The memorandum accused the government of failing to uphold the spirit of the 2015 Framework Agreement, which recognises the unique history and political rights of the Naga people. It argued that the continued accommodation of Kuki extremist groups, despite alleged attacks on Naga settlements, undermines the credibility of the peace process and the Centre’s constitutional responsibility under Article 355 to protect the States against external aggression.

The organisations called on the Centre to immediately launch operations to evict members of the KNA-B, People’s Democratic Force (anti-junta Myanmar group), and SoO cadres from Naga areas; guarantee that no administrative arrangement would affect the Naga ancestral territories; restore free movement along Manipur’s highways; and institute a time-bound judicial inquiry into the recent attacks and alleged security lapses.

Asserting that the Centre’s “continued appeasement of Kuki armed groups” constitutes a “proxy war against the very people with whom it signed the historic Framework Agreement”, the organisations requested Mr. Modi to help take the peace process with Nagas to its “logical and acceptable” conclusion.

“The Naga people have chosen the path of peace,” they said, adding that a just political settlement was essential for securing both the eastern frontier and India’s national security.