Manipur's Communities Join Hands In Pushback Against Bid To Sabotage Peace

Hundreds of people including internally displaced persons (IDPs) from different communities and tribes across Manipur held a massive rally today, seeking safe and timely rehabilitation, and protection of the border state's territorial integrity.

The IDPs came from relief camps spread across the state, lending the rally a powerful humanitarian dimension and underscoring the prolonged displacement and hardship faced by thousands since Meitei-Kuki ethnic violence began in May 2023.

In an affirmation of the idea of Manipur as a land for all communities that have been living together, members of the Meitei community, Thadou tribe, Naga tribes, Muslims and other communities came together on a single platform - a rare sight in the state bordering Myanmar.

A section of the Kuki tribes wants to break away and form a separate administration for their own community, with negotiations being handled by two dozen insurgent groups under two umbrella organisations that signed the suspension of operations (SoO) agreement.

Students also participated in large numbers in the rally, adding momentum to the protest and reflecting growing frustration among young people over prolonged instability and disruption of education.

Khuraijam Athouba, a key member of the rally organiser COCOMI, said the people of Manipur have asked the Centre many times for resettlement of IDPs and resolution of the crisis, but a "deliberate false narrative" was being pushed to portray the situation as merely an ethnic conflict with no responsibility on the Centre.

COCOMI is short for Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity, an umbrella body of civil society organisations of the Meitei community.

"The people waited. They tolerated it. They endured grave and repeated human rights violations. Yet the entire population of Manipur has effectively been kept in a hostage-like situation for over two-and-a-half years," Athouba said, referring to no free movement on the highways.

The President's Rule in Manipur will complete a year next month.

Michael Lamjathang Thadou, a leader of the Thadou tribe, in a post on X said, "We are for the united idea of Manipur."

"If the government truly cares for Manipur, it should take initiative to restore peace and enable peaceful coexistence of various communities and tribes, instead of supporting those who want to break Manipur," Michael Thadou said.

ALSO READ | Manipur's Displaced People Try To Rebuild Lives Amid Gunfire From The Hills

"People from various tribes such as Thadou, Vaiphei, Paite and Hmar are being held as hostage at gunpoint to break Manipur by a few armed elements. When all the tribes and communities come and live together, we will show the true identity of Manipur and find lasting peace," he said.

The rally released an eight-point resolution, which, among other demands, sought the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise to be carried out in the state "to address demographic challenges in Manipur arising from long-term illegal immigration."

Manipur's New 'Normal'

While the Meiteis and Kukis have stopped fighting, Kuki tribe organisations have not expressed confidence of returning to the valley, citing their lived experiences of the May 2023 violence. Because of this condition, they have also not agreed on allowing Meitei IDPs to return to their homes and villages in Kuki-dominant districts.

Meitei civil society organisations say all internally displaced people should be made to return safely, while talks can go on. But Kuki leaders have demanded a political solution in the form of a separate administration before any other issues, including the return of thousands of people living in relief camps, can be discussed.

Meitei leaders have cited this condition to allege that Kuki leaders are engineering an ethnocentric homeland demand; the Meiteis' argument is that talks can go on while at the same time people living in difficult conditions in the camps can also return home since no territory is ethnic exclusive.

Sabotage Attempts

In December 2025, the Manipur Police said they filed a first information report (FIR) following "indiscriminate firing by Kuki armed groups at Torbung." The firing targeted a village near the foothills in Bishnupur district, where hundreds of people who had been living in relief camps in Manipur's valley areas for over two years, had returned. But 24 hours into the effort to rebuild their lives, the villagers heard the sound of automatic gunfire coming from the hills. They had to leave again.

The latest attempt by armed people to derail the peace process in Manipur involved the macabre killing of a Meitei man - as he begged for his life on camera - in Kuki-dominant Churachandpur district. The attackers' objective seemed to be to provoke the public on ethnic lines and start another round of violence, sources had said.

Their plan would succeed only if communities started hating and killing each other, they said. No such thing happened, much to the disappointment of those who wanted violence to break out afresh, sources said.

ALSO READ | "Isn't That...?" Family Found Out About Meitei Man's Murder Through Video

There's a realisation cutting across community lines in Manipur that with the benefit of heightened awareness and education about coexistence and the multi-ethnic character of the state, it wouldn't take long for peace to return only if a small section with vested interests are stopped from sabotaging the recovery.

Over 260 people were killed and 50,000 were internally displaced in the Manipur violence.