- Police try to arrest a suspected drug kingpin in Manipur's Chandel district
- Ceasefire-linked armed group UKLF denies police allegation and says the man is a UKLF officer
- Controversy raises fundamental questions on police duties in a complex environment
The Manipur Police's attempt to arrest a man who they called a "suspected drug kingpin" has raised fundamental questions on law enforcement in the border state that is yet to fully recover from ethnic tension.
The man was not a "suspected drug kingpin" but an "officer" of the United Kuki Liberation Front (UKLF), the outfit said in a statement condemning the police. UKLF comes under one of the two umbrella bodies called United Peoples Front (UPF) that signed the tripartite suspension of operations (SoO) agreement with the Centre and the state government.
The UKLF called the police action a "total violation of SoO ground rules."
A joint monitoring group (JMG) keeps an eye on the SoO agreement, acts as a body to look into ground rules violations, and reviews the agreement every year.
In the case of the "suspected drug kingpin", the police went straight for him as a matter of routine investigation and arrest, sources said. Whether the police should have told the JMG or followed a different protocol due to the SoO agreement, they declined to comment. A senior officer, however, said the law is clear about the police's duties.
How It Began
The matter began on October 1 evening when a police team went to arrest the suspect from a village in Chandel district's Sajik Tampak.
The suspect managed to escape from the village and a crowd attacked the team as they tried to leave the area, the police said in a statement two days after visuals of a large group of people throwing stones and damaging police vehicles went viral.
The Manipur Police have faced allegations of bias ever since Meitei-Kuki ethnic clashes started in May 2023.
"On 01.10.2025 acting on credible intelligence, Chandel district police conducted an operation in T Kotlen village in Sajik Tampak area, Chandel district to apprehend a suspected drug kingpin. However, the person managed to escape capture," the Manipur Police said in a post on X on October 3, without naming the suspect.
"While returning, the police team was attacked by a mob protesting their presence in the area. With support from the Assam Rifles and CAPF, the situation was peacefully resolved through dialogue with local leaders, allowing the team to safely return back. The Manipur Police reiterate their unwavering commitment to combating the drug menace, and will continue in future too," the police said. CAPF is short for Central Armed Police Forces.
"Arrogant Cop"
The UKLF in a statement on October 2 termed the police raid on the man, who it introduced as a "UKLF officer," an "arrogant act" committed by the Chandel superintendent of police and his team.
"Conducting a raid against the officers and cadres of the organisation who signed the tripartite suspension of operation agreement is indeed a total violation of SoO ground rules," the UKLF said in the statement signed by its spokesperson, T James.
The UKLF also did not name their "officer".
The UKLF said it strictly followed the SoO agreement ground rules, and viewed "the recent unwanted act of SP Chandel and his team seriously and will not remain a mute spectator if he continues to act arrogantly."
The armed group appealed to the authorities concerned to act against the Indian Police Service officer to avoid a repeat of such an incident.
The entire controversy - the first since the SoO agreement was renewed on September 4 - has raised questions on how the police are supposed to proceed in routine anti-crime, anti-narcotics and related investigations where arrest or questioning is necessary, if the suspect is an insurgent of any group that signed the SoO agreement.
There is a need for clarity on the matter because the law empowers the police to act, but at the same time the SoO agreement based on trust has its own formal mechanism of troubleshooting through the JMG, sources said.
Under the SoO agreement, the insurgents are to stay at designated camps and their weapons kept in locked storage, to be monitored regularly. They also get a monthly stipend for rehabilitation; however, they have accused the state government of withholding funds for long periods.
Only 1 Meitei Outfit In Ceasefire
A key difference between SoO agreements in the past and the one renewed this year is the level of monitoring and scrutiny it is getting from civil society organisations and the public, mostly from the Meitei community. In the age of social media, they are constantly checking for evidence of SoO ground rules violation by any party, and keeping whatever records are available in the public well organised.
The Meitei community and a section of the Thadou tribe represented by the Thadou Inpi Manipur have been alleging misuse of the SoO agreement by the mix of 24 Kuki, Zomi and Hmar armed groups. However, the UNLF (P) is the only Meitei insurgent group that has signed a ceasefire with the Centre and the state government.
The rest of the Meitei armed groups and their factions are designated terrorist organisations under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or (UAPA). The banned Meitei terrorist groups such as the PLA, KYKL and KCP that had become nearly extinct in Manipur for the last 10 years had returned from neighbouring Myanmar after May 2023, and due to the junta's diminishing hold in areas where the few remaining Meitei armed groups camped.
The PLA has also been identified as the terrorist group that ambushed Assam Rifles personnel on September 19 in Manipur's Nambol, a valley area, killing two soldiers and wounding five others, the police have said.
Police data shows a large number of PLA, KCP (PWG), KYKL and other Meitei insurgents are being arrested everyday in the valley areas. The Kangleipak Communist Party (People's War Group), or KCP (PWG), is involved in the highest number of extortion and other cases, according to police data.
Renewed Terms
The other umbrella body of 16 insurgent groups that signed the SoO agreement is called Kuki National Organisation (KNO). In total, with eight from the UPF, there are 24 insurgent groups under the SoO agreement.
They say their demand for a separate administration under the Constitution is not unlawful.
"They [KNO member groups] are armed primarily not against Indian security forces or the government, but to protect themselves from the local environment which has been there for so many years. We do not engage in any kind of skirmish with Indian security forces at all," Haokip told NDTV in February.
The KNO and the UPF have agreed to relocate seven designated camps away from areas vulnerable to conflict, reduce the number of designated camps, and relocate weapons with the nearest camps of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Border Security Force (BSF).
There will be stringent physical verification of insurgents by the security forces to de-list foreign nationals, if any, and the joint monitoring group will closely monitor enforcement of ground rules, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on September 4.
Violations [of ground rules] will be dealt with firmly in future, including review of the SoO agreement, the MHA said.
