Leaders cutting across party lines and civil society groups of the Meitei community in Manipur have asked a Delhi-based non-profit to apologise and withdraw what they called a "biased" report on the ethnic violence in the border state.
The report by the non-profit, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), is also misleading and is a politically engineered narrative that seeks to vilify the Meitei community, a civil society group, COCOMI, which recently met Union Home Ministry officials to discuss the way forward in Manipur, alleged in a statement on Tuesday.
In the report, the PUCL alleged former chief minister N Biren Singh played a partisan role and also flagged alleged complicity of state security forces in arming non-state actors and allowing widespread violence to occur unchecked.
The Meitei community, however, alleged the report was thin and in some places silent on the involvement of Kuki militants before and after the breakout of ethnic hostilities in May 2023.
Inner Manipur Congress MP Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, Republican Party of India (Athawale) national secretary Maheshwar Thounaojam, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Maharaja Sanajaoba Leishemba, and the former chief minister are among the leaders who have spoken out against the PUCL over the report that they called biased, unprofessional and partisan.
The top umbrella body of Meitei civil society groups, Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), in a statement detailing some of their objections to the report in brief, said the "contents reflect bias, selective omission, and fabrication, demonising an entire community while shielding the role of narco-terrorist groups."
"We categorically reject the report and demand accountability... Manipur does not need propaganda masquerading as human rights. What it needs is truth, fairness, and collective resolve to restore peace, integrity, and unity," COCOMI said in the statement.
The COCOMI shared 10 points from the PUCL report to illustrate what the Meitei civil society organisation alleged were glaring examples of the Delhi-based non-profit's intent: 1. Misrepresentation on Meitei Scheduled Tribes (ST) status (page 19) 2. False narrative on outbreak of violence (page 20) 3. One-sided depiction of victimhood (page 22) 4. Deliberate endorsement of separatist agenda (page 22) 5. Justifying illegality of opium poppy cultivation 6. Omission of armed Kuki groups' role 7. Wrongful conclusion of "unbridgeable differences" (page 56) 8. False historical claims and demonisation (page 58) 9. Misleading on ST consultation process (page 103), and 10. Distortion of tribal histories (page 287).
"The report makes no mention of Kuki-Chin armed groups involved in the violence - despite their own spokespersons admitting responsibility... Yet PUCL repeatedly mentions Arambai Tengol and Meitei Leepun while ignoring ITLF, COTU, Kuki Inpi, Kuki Students' Organisation, Kuki Women's Association, and Kuki Zo Council - all of whom control and direct militant activities in the hills," COCOMI alleged.
Rights activist and COCOMI member Khuraijam Athouba told reporters at a press conference in the state capital Imphal on Tuesday that with the basic premise of the PUCL report inflicted with factual errors which can be proven with evidence, public records and documents, there is a huge question mark over the rest of the report.
A Delhi-based rightwing organisation, Rashtrahit Sarvopari Sangathan, headed by Sohan Giri, on Tuesday submitted a request to the Union Home Ministry seeking an investigation and financial audit of PUCL over allegations of "biased reporting and alleged support to separatist demands in [the] Manipur conflict."
"The report fails to acknowledge that the violence was preceded and provoked by calls from Kuki militant groups and political representatives for a 'separate administration', a demand that challenges the territorial integrity of Manipur and Bharat. The PUCL's silence on or subtle endorsement of separatist demands risks being interpreted as tacit support for divisive and unconstitutional objectives, with grave national security implications," Mr Giri said in the memorandum submitted to the Union Home Ministry.
Grateful to Rashtrahit Sarvopari Sangthan for your initiative to expose the truth of Manipur Violence & befitting response against this One-sided self styled Human Rights Defenders #PUCL.
— Maharaja Sanajaoba Leishemba. (@MaharajaManipur) August 26, 2025
🙏🙏🙏@rashtrapatibhvn@PMOIndia@Sohangiri pic.twitter.com/O5RM13GTOv
Mr Akoijam, the Inner Manipur Congress MP, questioned the PUCL for not doing enough "to unearth the forces behind the violence rather than insinuating that one community is a victim and another is a perpetrator."
"According to PUCL, what role have these [Kuki militant] groups played in the current violent crisis that led PUCL investigators to recognise them as 'stakeholders' and advocate for their involvement in peace talks to lend the process 'legitimacy'?" Mr Akoijam said in a post on social media on Tuesday. "Shouldn't the investigator look into the relationship between members of the political parties and these [Kuki] armed groups, just as it has done vis-a-vis the Meitei groups?"
He said the PUCL must show fortitude and self-respect, and offer "an unconditional apology to the people of this country, and immediately withdraw the report."
Referring to page No. 20 of the PUCL report on the sequence of events on May 3, 2023, the day ethnic clashes began, Mr Akoijam questioned the PUCL's claim that violence in Kuki-dominant Churachandpur was a retaliation to mob attacks on Kuki areas in and around Imphal valley.
However, statements given by victims to the PUCL itself - which are mentioned in the report - established that violence erupted in Churachandpur and border areas with Bishnupur, with Meitei houses set on fire much before violence erupted in Imphal valley.
"And yet it [report] concludes that violence started in Imphal against the 'Kukis' and the 'retaliatory' violence emerged later on in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi as 'Kukis' only 'retaliated' to the violence against them!" Mr Akoijam added, calling the entire exercise "nothing but sheer hypocrisy."
The reasons why PUCL must withdraw its report on the Manipur crisis.@PUCLindia pic.twitter.com/4J8CjfxZtL
— A. Bimol Akoijam (@Bimol_Akoijam) August 26, 2025
Mr Thounaojam of the Republican Party of India (Athawale) said they want a legal investigation into PUCL's activities.
"We strongly reject the report's false allegations against the Meitei community... Let's unite and work towards promoting peace, harmony, and development in Manipur," Mr Thounaojam, known for his vocal activism on ST status for the Meitei community, told reporters in Delhi on Tuesday.
Today, we held a press conference at 11 Safdarjung Road, New Delhi, to condemn the biased report by PUCL on the Manipur conflict. We strongly reject the report's false allegations against the Meitei community and demand a legal investigation into the organization's activities. We... pic.twitter.com/jqDOfxgmXO
— Maheshwar Thounaojam (@Maheshwarthouna) August 26, 2025
The COCOMI said it will organise a public review of the PUCL report, where each misrepresentation, falsehood, and omission will be systematically exposed. It said every unfounded and defamatory statement against the Meitei community, every attempt to legitimise separatist aspirations, and every distortion of fact will be met with legal action.
"PUCL and the so-called tribunal members will be held accountable under the law. COCOMI will continue to mobilise civil society, intellectuals, and legal experts to ensure that Manipur's integrity and unity are not undermined by fabricated reports designed for international consumption and separatist propaganda," the umbrella body of Meitei civil society organisations said in the four-page statement that came days after the PUCL shared its report with the public.
People from the valley community living in relief camps after they lost their homes in Kuki-dominated hill areas have also strongly criticised the report over what they called a perceived silence on the role of heavily armed and well-trained Kuki militants who participated in gunfights and recruited teens under the name of 'village volunteers'.
They have pointed out key issues missing from the report, such as politicians especially from the controversial Any Kuki Tribes (AKT) category who allegedly instigated Kuki mobs before clashes began on May 3, 2023, and the use of language seen to be biased and partisan ("Kuki-Zo communities were 'driven' out of the valley. Meitei communities 'left' tribal-dominated hill areas.")
The executive summary given at the beginning of the PUCL report concluded that "the violence was not spontaneous but orchestrated, enabled by armed Meitei vigilante groups like Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun, and facilitated by state complicity and law enforcement failures."
The PUCL in its report recommended the setting up of a special investigating team (SIT) under the Supreme Court's supervision to probe all cases of ethnic violence and the role of the security forces. The SIT should investigate incidents of hate speeches which occurred directly prior to and during the conflict and arrest and prosecute the perpetrators, including political figures and state functionaries, and the state government should provide adequate protection to all the witnesses, the PUCL report said.
The team members visited a number of relief camps in Manipur to talk to survivors, including children, women and elderly displaced on account of the conflict. Thereafter, a major part of the report comprised meeting people from Manipur who came to Delhi to speak to the PUCL team.
The PUCL, currently led by rights activist Kavita Srivastava, was formed under the aegis of Jaya Prakash Narayan as People's Union for Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights (PUCLDR) in 1976. It was re-christened as PUCL in 1980.
The valley-dominant Meitei community and the Kuki tribes, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have been fighting over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation. Over 260 have died in the violence and nearly 50,000 have been internally displaced.
The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar's Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
