New Delhi/Imphal, June 27 (IANS) The United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body representing the 21 Naga tribes of Manipur, on Saturday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Government to urgently intervene in the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Manipur, particularly in the Naga-inhabited areas.

A joint memorandum was submitted to the Prime Minister by the UNC, Naga Women’s Union and the All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur, demanding immediate intervention against what the organisations described as a proxy war against the Nagas by Kuki militant groups, who are now under a Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with the government.

The Naga bodies claimed that the Kuki militant groups and the Myanmar-based KNA (B) are not only violating the Indo-Naga Framework Agreement signed on August 3, 2015, but also pose a serious threat to India’s eastern frontier security.

UNC President N.G. Lorho and other senior Naga leaders, Vareiyo Shatsang, Samson Remei, A.C. Thotso, K.S. Paul Leo and L. Adani, are holding a series of meetings with political leaders, civil society organisations, women’s groups, peace activists and concerned citizens besides the media in Delhi to present the Naga perspective and seek immediate constitutional and political intervention.

The Naga bodies’ move came after the Kuki-Zo Council (KZC) expressed regret on June 25 over what it described as a “grave mistake” in the killing of six Naga hostages in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district on May 13.

The UNC said this was the first time that Naga elders from Manipur had addressed the national media in New Delhi since the recent cycle of violence, which it alleged had directly threatened Naga people and their ancestral lands.

It said the incidents occurred while the state was still struggling to recover from the Meitei-Kuki ethnic conflict that began in May 2023, and claimed the recent developments reflected a deeper conspiracy against the Naga people and their commitment to peace. The Naga bodies also questioned the ability of both the state and Union Governments to protect civilians and maintain law and order.

The UNC said that following the killing of three Thadou church leaders on May 13 this year, 20 Naga civilians were allegedly abducted by Kuki militant groups from Leilon Vaiphei and Sapermaina Kuki villages. Fourteen of them were released on May 15, while six remained missing despite repeated appeals and extensions granted by the UNC to the Manipur Government to secure their release.

The UNC said that on June 10, Naga village guards, facilitated by the UNC and the Naga People Organisation, Senapati, released 14 Kuki detainees as a humanitarian gesture despite widespread public anger. However, the following day (June 11), the bodies of the six missing Naga civilians were recovered in a mutilated and dismembered condition.

The UNC described the killings as deeply traumatic and said the incident had severely shaken public confidence in the government’s ability to ensure the safety of innocent civilians. The Council demanded a time-bound, independent and court-monitored investigation into the abduction and killing of the six Naga civilians.

It also sought concrete security guarantees for all Naga-inhabited areas, particularly vulnerable regions where civilians have allegedly faced intimidation, hostage-taking and armed incursions.

The UNC maintained that large parts of present-day Kangpokpi district are historically ancestral lands of the Zeliangrong Nagas and asserted that any violence, militarised assertion or demographic intimidation in these areas should be treated as a serious issue of Naga security and territorial integrity.

Referring to its memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister, the Council argued that the situation should not be viewed merely as a law-and-order issue or an internal communal conflict.

It alleged that the attacks on Naga villages in Ukhrul and Kamjong districts on May 7, including Namlee-Wanglee, Choro and Kaka villages, involved cross-border armed movement, military-grade weapons, drones, rocket launchers and coordinated assaults by armed cadres.

–IANS

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