Manipur violence began a day before peace pact was to be finalised, says Kuki-Zo group

Representatives of Kuki-Zo insurgent groups were close to finalising a political settlement with the Union Home Ministry and the Manipur government when ethnic violence broke out in the State on May 3, 2023, according to a spokesperson of one of the groups.

Aron Kipgen, spokesperson of the United People's Front (UPF), told The Hindu that the two umbrella bodies of Kuki-Zo groups, the UPF and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), had been conveyed a message from Union Home Minister Amit Shah: either conclude a political settlement or wind up the Suspension of Operations (SoO) pact. The SoO, first signed in 2008 after Naga-Kuki clashes, is a tripartite arrangement involving the Kuki-Zo groups, the Union Home Ministry and the Manipur government.

The account rests on one party to the negotiations. It could not be independently verified, and the report did not carry a response from the Home Ministry or the Manipur government.

Mr. Kipgen said the talks until May 2023 centred on an autonomous arrangement drawing on the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The groups sought executive, financial and judicial powers, as well as recognition of customary practices and traditional justice mechanisms. Chief Minister N. Biren Singh was aware of the proposed deal, he said.

He added that not every point had been agreed upon, but the negotiations had progressed far enough for the groups to believe the outstanding issues could be resolved.

According to his account, KNO and UPF representatives met the Centre's interlocutor A.K. Mishra and Intelligence Bureau officials in Imphal on May 2, 2023. The meeting was convened after Mr. Shah directed officials to fast-track the peace process, he said. The groups expected the talks to continue over the following days and to end with the signing of a settlement in New Delhi in the presence of the Home Minister.

That did not happen. Violence between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities broke out the next day. Official estimates put the death toll at more than 200, with tens of thousands displaced, and the two communities have since been largely separated geographically.

Mr. Kipgen said the groups never expected communal clashes at a time when a political solution was within reach. He alleged that the violence appeared to have been planned and that Kuki-Zo houses in mixed localities in Imphal had been selectively targeted. The allegation has not been independently established.

He said the mass displacement and the separation that followed altered the premise of the negotiations, and that the groups had since revised their demand from autonomy to a separate administration.

The whole community had come to one resolution, he said, that it could no longer remain under the same administration and needed a separate administration. The groups have since proposed a Union Territory with a legislature, citing Article 239A of the Constitution, and have held detailed discussions with the Centre on executive and financial powers for such an arrangement.

The demand for a separate administration remains one of the central disputes in Manipur. Meitei organisations and the State government have opposed any move to divide the State, arguing that its territorial integrity must be preserved, while Kuki-Zo groups say the separation of the two communities since 2023 has made a return to the earlier arrangement untenable.