Still No Free Movement In Manipur? National Human Rights Commission Seeks Report

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday ordered the police and civil authorities in Manipur's Kangpokpi district to give an action-taken report on a complaint about denial of safe passage through National Highway-2, which connects the state capital Imphal with Dimapur in neighbouring Nagaland.

Initially, the NHRC on August 20 told the Imphal district magistrate/collector and the police chief to look into the matter raised by the petition and send an action-taken report. The Imphal West district police chief replied to the NHRC on September 9, saying the matter was not under their jurisdiction, but under their Kangpokpi counterparts.

The NHRC then directed the Kangpokpi police chief and the district magistrate/collector to send a report.

".. It is therefore requested that the additional/complete report as directed by the Commission in the matter be sent latest by January 4, 2026 for further consideration by the Commission," the NHRC said in its response to the petition on Thursday.

'Denial Of Constitutionally Guaranteed Rights'

Imphal resident Asem Roshan Singh in June filed a petition with the NHRC over the "ongoing denial of constitutionally guaranteed rights arising from the continued obstruction of National Highway-2 (lmphal-Dimapur Road)" in the Kangpokpi district stretch.

"This blockade, enforced through fear, extortion, abduction and ethnic targeting, has had a devastating impact on the human rights and livelihoods of civilians, especially the poor, students, and patients across the state," Roshan Singh said in the petition.

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He said the Kangpokpi section of NH-2 is a part of the centrally maintained public highway, but it has remained inaccessible to many citizens, "with targeted harassment particularly of Meitei civilians... [and] all who do not belong to the dominant community in that district."

"...Despite repeated assurances from constitutional authorities, the denial of access to NH-2 persists with impunity, revealing grave administrative and constitutional failures demanding urgent redress," Roshan Singh said in the petition.

"... The denial of this crucial arterial route has inflicted disproportionate suffering upon economically weaker sections, ailing patients, job seekers, and students, violating their constitutionally enshrined rights to life, liberty, movement and dignity.

"The continued blockade... has created an unconstitutional zone of lawlessness, subverting India's unity and integrity, and warrants immediate restoration of constitutional order," the petition said.

'To Supreme Court Next'

Meitei civil society organisations have said they are preparing to go to the Supreme Court against blatant denial of free movement on highways, an "open-and-shut-case".

Roshan Singh is from the valley-dominant Meitei community. The Kuki tribes are dominant in Kangpokpi district.

Kuki civil society organisations and their two dozen insurgent groups in talks with the Centre and the state government under the suspension of operations (SoO) agreement have insisted the physical distance between the two communities must be maintained till the time a settlement to the Manipur crisis is found.

Meitei civil society organisations have alleged their Kuki counterparts have been stopping internally displaced persons (IDPs) from returning to the valley areas in order to keep denying highway access to valley residents and keep the pot boiling. Access to the airport, which is in the valley, is not blocked for any community and disinformation is being spread by vested interests to keep tension alive, the Meitei organisations said.

The Kuki tribes in southern Manipur's Churachandpur who don't take flights out from Imphal valley travel either by a helicopter service or vehicles through a long, bumpy journey on bad roads across the hills all the way till Mizoram's Aizawl. Patients suffering from serious medical conditions such as cardiac problems face the biggest risk if they are needed to be taken to hospitals in another state or district, a doctor in Churachandpur told NDTV on phone earlier this year.

However, the Kuki organisations have cited their community's lived experience of the May 2023 violence in the valley areas as a major factor against returning, apart from not having liveable homes left - a charge that the Meitei community also makes about their villages and damaged houses in Kuki-dominant districts categorised as hill areas.

In September, the Kuki Zo Council's (KZC) denial of claims that it allowed free movement on NH-2 created confusion since the Centre had in a statement said the "KZC decided to open National Highway-2 for the free movement of commuters and essential goods."

The KZC was part of a meeting with Home Ministry officials in Delhi just before the Centre announced the extension of the suspension of operations (SoO) agreement with two dozen insurgent groups for one year.

The KZC had said no Meitei or Kuki should cross the "buffer zone" under any circumstances, as there is "still no settlement or agreement to the conflict between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities."

Meitei organisations have said the fundamental right to free movement provided by the Constitution is being dictated by insurgents and private organisations, not enforced by the government.

The Meitei Heritage Society (MHS) had in a statement in September said the Home Ministry's announcement that the KZC allowed free movement of commuters and essential goods was misleading as it was contradicted by the official statement issued by Chin Kuki insurgents that signed the SoO agreement.

"It suggests that the authority to open or close National Highways in Manipur lies with a private organisation and not with the Indian State. The fundamental right to free movement provided by the Constitution will be dictated by insurgents and private organisations, not enforced by the Indian State. This is both embarrassing and unacceptable," the MHS said, and asked the Home Ministry to clarify on the matter.

Responding to the KZC, the Thadou Inpi Manipur (TIM) in a statement said the highway belongs to the central government and that its obstruction constitutes a violation of fundamental rights.

"TIM urges members of the Thadou community to refrain from any form of mob mobilisation, rioting, or highway blockade along NH-2. The organisation also calls upon the community not to relate rioting and damaging public property with any kind of political stance and avoid being influenced by provocative messages circulating on social media," TIM said.

Ethnic violence between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the Kuki tribes, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, broke out in May 2023 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.