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.
-
NDTV Ground Report: Drugs At Centre Of China's 'Three Warfares' Strategy
The Chinese fund and support Myanmar's military junta. The junta in turn hire NSCN (IM) and ZRA to fight on their behalf and provide protection to poppy fields
-
India To Dust Off 1971 War Air Base To Counter Bangladesh's China Turn
If Beijing does fund the renovation of Lalmonirhat then expect the Chinese to have military assets - fighter jets, radars, surveillance equipment, etc. - stationed there as part of the deal.
-
NDTV Explains: India vs China In Race For Arctic Oil, Gas, Shipping Routes
Unlike China, India is seen as slow-playing its Arctic card, choosing to cooperate with the Council and present itself as a 'responsible stakeholder' by engaging with all sides on key issues.
-
Opinion | No, Sirs. South Africa Is Not 'Killing' Its Whites
The "white genocide" myth serves no one. It stokes fear among white South Africans, trivialises the pain of Black South Africans, and hands a loaded weapon to racists in America and Europe.
-
NDTV Ground Report: Extortion Part Of China's Unconventional War On India
Up to 22 per cent of the salaries of state government employees is deducted as an unofficial "sovereignty tax" imposed by armed insurgent groups.
-
Opinion | A Month After Pahalgam, Have We Lost Sight Of Kashmir And Kashmiris?
While we establish a new normal of military deterrence between India and Pakistan, we seem to have forgotten that our most valuable allies have to be the people themselves.
-
Opinion | So, Why Has Apple Stuck To Its Chennai Plan Despite Trump's 'Warning'?
Tim Cook is likely bothered more about what shareholders and analysts think of the way he manages his company's huge cash pile - estimated at well over $300 billion - than an oddball statement from Trump about moving all production to America.
-
NDTV Explains: India And The US' Awkward 'AAA' Ratings Cut, Debt Story
The US' federal debt is a staggering $36 trillion and its debt-to-GDP ratio is among the highest in the world; as of 2025 only seven countries owed more money than they earned.
-
Blog | A Decade Later, Why Piku Still Hurts
The tragedy of Piku is that in the effort to raise a feminist daughter, Bhashkor inadvertently created a woman who cannot separate agency from obligation. She has the freedom to walk away, but no inner permission to exercise it.
-
NDTV Ground Report: China's Unconventional War Against India On Northeast Border
The problem of Nagaland and the northeastern states stems from an aggressive China that has, over the years, waged a non-conventional war against India directly and indirectly, using Myanmar.
-
News Updates
-
Featured
-
More Links
-
Follow Us On