Help end ‘proxy war’ by armed Kuki groups, Manipur Naga body urges PM

The United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body of 21 Naga tribes in Manipur, has demanded the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s immediate intervention in the “rapidly deteriorating situation” in the Northeastern State, especially in the Naga areas.

Leaders of the UNC told journalists in New Delhi on Saturday (June 27, 2026) that the organisation, along with the Naga Women’s Union and the All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur, submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister, seeking action against the “proxy war” by armed Kuki groups against the Nagas.

Naga leaders, Ng Lorho, Vareiyo Shatsang, Samson Remei, A.C. Thotso, K.S. Paul Leo, and L. Adani addressed the press conference facilitated by the Delhi Solidarity Group.

They said that the memorandum called for a crackdown against Kuki extremist groups, which signed the Suspension of Operations agreements with the Centre in 2008, for waging the proxy war against the Nagas. The war, they insisted, was a violation of the Framework Agreement of August 2015 (signed between the Centre and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim) and a serious threat to India’s frontier security.

The UNC was specific about the armed Kuki National Front-Presidential faction and named the Kuki National Army (Burma) as an eternal aggressor in Naga-inhabited areas along the India-Myanmar border.

The UNC said that its delegation has been meeting political leaders, civil society groups, women’s organisations, peace workers, and concerned citizens in Delhi to place before the position of Manipur’s Naga people and seek immediate constitutional and political intervention.

They said the Nagas were dragged into the recent cycle of conflict in a State yet to recover from the Kuki-Meitei conflict that erupted in May 2023. “The threat to the Nagas and their land reflected a deeper conspiracy against the Naga people and their commitment to peace,” the UNC said in a statement, underlining the erosion of public trust in the ability of both the State and Union governments to protect life and civil order in Manipur.

Probe brutal killings

The UNC also said that the Nagas expected six of their community members to be released by their Kuki abductors after the UNC and the Naga People’s Organisation facilitated the release of 14 Kuki hostages on June 9.

The hostage crisis was triggered by the killing of three Thadou church leaders on May 13. The Kukis and Nagas released 14 hostages each two days later, but the crisis was far from over.

The UNC said the Nagas expected the humane act of releasing the 14 remaining Kuki hostages despite intense public anger to be reciprocated. “Instead, on 10 June, the six Naga civilians who had remained in captivity were recovered as lifeless, mutilated, and dismembered human remains,” it said, demanding a time-bound, independent, and court-monitored probe into the abduction and brutal killing of the six Naga civilians.

The apex Naga body also demanded concrete security guarantees for all Naga-inhabited areas in Manipur, especially vulnerable zones where civilians have faced intimidation, hostage-taking, and armed movement.

The UNC said that large parts of what is now the Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district are Zeliangrong Naga ancestral lands. “Any violence, militarised assertion or demographic intimidation in these areas must be treated as a serious matter of Naga security and territorial protection,” it added.

Zeliangrong comprises three Naga communities — Zeme, Liangmai, and Rongmei. The six slain Naga civilians belonged to the Liangmai community.