Before the ‘official’ commencement of hostilities between Meiteis and Kukis on May 3, 2023 Manipur government decided to withdraw from the SoO agreement with two militant groups, Kuki National Army (KNA) and Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA) out of the several groups, alleging their involvement in poppy cultivation and inciting people against forest officials on March 10, 2023 in a Cabinet meeting. Both Kuki Ministers Nemcha Kipgen and Letpao Haokip were present in the said meeting. The central government particularly the security establishment and Union Home ministry were not amused with the unilateral move.
Chief Minister N Biren Singh had made his move, in an apparent bid to force the central government to follow suit. It did not happen and the cessation of hostilities between central forces and Kuki militants still continues. The SoO agreement was first signed between the Assam Rifles and some Kuki militant groups in 2005. Former CM O Ibobi Singh and leader of the Congress party had admitted in the assembly that it was done without the knowledge of the Manipur government and state forces continued to arrest the militants. In 2008, Manipur government was also brought in and thereafter a tripartite pact was signed by the United Peoples’ Front (UPF) and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), at least 24 insurgent groups divided between the two umbrella collectives, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Manipur government.
The annual extension of the pact lapsed on February 29, 2024. Then, clashes broke out in May 2023. Owing to public pressure, the Manipur Assembly on February 29, 2024 passed a resolution to urge the Union Government to abrogate the suspension of operations (SoO) pact with all the Kuki militant groups under UPF and KNO. It was seen as a ploy to further add pressure to the central government while pacifying the public resentment. Nothing happened and after the lapse of the SoO agreement, it was neither extended nor abrogated. A report in “The Hindu’ said the ‘status quo’ still exists on the ground. The same report said that representatives of Manipur government did not turn up at the February 29 meeting specially called for extension of the agreement. However, the ambiguity of the term ‘status quo’ in the context of the SoO agreement remained.
Officially, the agreement had actually lapsed while the central government is yet to issue any notification of either revoking the operation or continuance of the agreement as such. When clashes broke out in May 2023, a cry for abrogation of SoO came out in the valley as suspected Kuki militants began attacking the fringe villages of the valley. Despite denials on involvement of Kuki militant groups under SoO in the attacks on the fringe villages of the valley, a physical verification of SoO designated camps somehow confirmed the allegations.
During the physical verification drive at the various designated camps of militant groups under SoO, security officials admitted that they indeed found most of the cadres and arms missing from the camps. For some time, the ruling establishment delved in political mud-slinging by alleging that it was the Congress government then which signed the SoO agreement and continued taking part in yearly extension. They however did not mention the fact that the BJP led government which came in 2017 was also a part of the yearly extension of the agreement. This blame game is nothing but an attempt to divert public attention from the BJP’s apparent failure to convince the central government on the necessity of abrogation of SoO.
Well, the general assumption that the central government is not at all inclined to abrogate the SoO agreement with the Kuki militant groups became crystal clear after a report appeared in The Hindu newspaper that discussions between the Home ministry and SoO groups had been happening in recent times and that proposals for shifting SoO designated camps have been made. Now, the question is why KNA and ZRA were singled out from among the groups in the March 10, 2023 Cabinet decision? Manipur government also needs to come clean on why it is not pressing for total abrogation of SoO.
