Men Carrying Assault Rifles 'Play' Football In Manipur. Video Viral
A video showing men armed with assault rifles openly 'playing' football in Manipur's Kangpokpi district has gone viral

A man in a fluorescent green football jersey came walking towards the camera. In knee-high socks and running shorts, he appeared prepped for a football match on the dusty ground. But this 'football player' carried two automatic assault rifles - one slung from the right shoulder, the other in hand. He raised the gun and laughed.
This 'football match warmup' video first appeared in an Instagram post by a social media influencer from Manipur's Kangpokpi district. It has gone viral now.

The visuals showed a dozen men in football kits carrying AK and American-origin M series assault rifles, kicking a football around. The guns have red ribbons tied around the barrel.
An event poster visible in the video showed the place as (L) Nohjang Kipgen Memorial Playground, K Gamnomphai. There is a village which locals identify as 'Gamnomphai' in Manipur's Kangpokpi district, some 30 km from the state capital Imphal.

The word 'Sanakhang' is written on the front side of the football jerseys, and one of the men carrying an AK assault rifle has the name 'Ginna Kipgen' written on the back of his jersey. He is player No. 15.
The text on the event poster seen in the video showed the football match began on January 20.

The social media influencer, Nampi Romeo Hansong, deleted the Instagram video which carried the watermark 'Kukiland' and a hashtag in his name. Mr Hansong, who has 11,000 followers, later posted a short video of the football match on Instagram - without the men carrying assault rifles.
On his YouTube channel, which has 1.09 lakh subscribers, he posted a nearly six-minute-long video showing the men with guns -- from the earlier video that he deleted -- for the first three seconds.
The video was further edited and updated to remove the men carrying guns. NDTV has a copy of the original video.

While the rest of the video has cultural performances and scenes from the football match, heavily armed men in dark green battledress are seen dancing at the venue towards the end of the video. Their helmets and shoulder patches carried a red logo usually seen worn by militants of the Kuki National Front (P), or KNF-P, whose turf is Kangpokpi.
A civil society organisation of the Meitei community in a post on X asked the authorities to "investigate this open display of assault rifles".
"This video of a football tournament in Manipur has gone viral on social media. What is deeply disturbing is the open display of sophisticated weapons by the so-called footballers. Or is it a football tournament of Kuki Militants? We urge the authorities to investigate this open display of assault rifles," the Meitei Heritage Society said.
This video of a football tournament in Manipur has gone viral on social media. What is deeply disturbing is the open display of sophisticated weapons by the so called footballers. Or is it a football tournament of Kuki Militants?
— Meitei Heritage Society (@meiteiheritage) February 6, 2025
We urge the authorities to investigate this... pic.twitter.com/3IC5uY9BkH
The 'P' in KNF-P means "president"; it is used to indicate KNF-P is the original KNF, hence the letter "president", the supreme. The KNF was founded in 1987. In 1994, it split into two factions i.e. KNF-MC led by SK Kipgen, and the original became KNF-P led by ST Thangboi Kipgen.
So, KNF is the KNF-P; the rest are its factions.

The KNF is a signatory to the controversial suspension of operations (SoO) agreement signed between nearly two dozen Kuki militant groups and the state and the centre.
Under SoO, the militants are to stay at designated camps and their weapons kept in locked, monitored storage.
The Manipur government has been asking the joint monitoring group, which reviews the SoO agreement every year, to scrap it for good, over allegations that the SoO groups have been involved in the Manipur violence from the beginning. The SoO agreement lapsed in February this year.
The Kuki tribes and the Meiteis have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation.
Manipur's Gun Problem
In 2023, the year the Manipur violence began, young men armed with automatic assault rifles from both communities were frequently seen roaming in the open. Hundreds of videos have surfaced on social media.
Members of the Meitei militia Arambai Tenggol armed with military-grade grenade launchers and AKs were often seen 'patrolling' the foothills, while their Kuki counterparts were seen in bunkers on the hilltops with similar weapons.
Both sides claim they are "village volunteers".
With the security forces and the government authorities themselves using the word "village volunteers", these groups of young people may have become more and more confident of showing off lethal weapons and normalising the act in the absence of effective deterrence, local activists have alleged.
Many senior officers of the security forces have publicly said militants from both sides are involved in the Manipur violence. These include violations of the SoO agreement by Kuki militants, and Meitei militants who had been dormant for the last 10 years returning to Manipur from war-torn Myanmar.
-
The Story Of A Bengal Butcher Who 'Saved' Calcutta
Gopal Patha's story assumes significance today, seven decades after Independence, with his legacy remaining unclaimed.
-
Opinion | The India-China Thaw Needs Eyes Wide Open
India and China have quickened their rapprochement, driven less by trust, which remains scarce, than by necessity. In a multipolar world, permanent allies and lasting rivals are illusions.
-
Opinion | 'Alien', 'Pajeet', 'Browns Off Cliffs': How Indians Became The Most Hated Diaspora
Indians and Indian-origin folks abroad are facing a storm - a surge in racial hostility that is fuelled by envy, stereotypes and far-right paranoia. They are admired and resented, successful and scapegoated, celebrated in official speeches but vilified in everyday life.
-
Opinion | Planes, Films With Bachchans, Lucknow: Growing Up As Rajiv Gandhi
On Rajiv Gandhi's 81st birth anniversary, noted columnist Rasheed Kidwai looks at the world of the Gandhis, beyond politics
-
Opinion | Bomb And The Button: Time To Call Pakistan's Nuclear Blackmail By Its Name
For decades, Pakistan's military has wielded its nuclear arsenal not as a deterrent, but as a diplomatic cudgel - a tool to intimidate India, extract concessions, and shield itself from accountability.
-
Opinion | In Musk vs Altman, The Winner Might Just Be A Third Guy - Of Indian Roots
Is the tail trying to wag the dog to build Aravind Srinivas's Perplexity? Or is it because the "other giants" in this tech race like to lift a David on their shoulders to fight a Goliath like ChatGPT?
-
Opinion | Top Court's Stray Dogs Order Can Cost A Fortune. But That's Not The Point
Housing Delhi's 10 lakh dogs would require at least Rs 10,000 crore in construction alone, more than half of Delhi's entire Rs 17,224 crore capital outlay for all development in 2025-26.
-
'Sudarshan Chakra' To Protect Our Skies. India's 'Iron Dome' Explained
During Op Sindoor India's IACCS played a pivotal role in maintaining air superiority over Pakistan; it did so by combining the air defence systems of the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy, into a single system tracking and neutralising incoming threats.
-
Opinion | Tariff War On India: Trump's Words And Our Scriptures
One does not expect Trump to be knowledgeable about the ancient Indian negotiating strategy, but his approach towards India seems to have a near overlap with Sam, Dam, Dand, Bhed.
-
Opinion | US-Israel Are Standing Alone. Their Friends Want To 'Recognise' Palestine
Australia has now joined a growing bloc of Western nations, including the UK, France, Spain, Ireland and Canada, that have declared their intention to recognise the State of Palestine.
-
News Updates
-
Featured
-
More Links
-
Follow Us On