IMPHAL (The Thursday Times) — Thousands of Meitei and Naga protesters marched through Imphal on Saturday in a rare joint show of strength, carrying banners reading “End India’s proxy war” and demanding that New Delhi stop what they say is a campaign against Manipur’s indigenous people.
The rally, from Tiddim Ground in Kwakeithel to a public meeting at Thau Ground in Thangmeiband, was organised by the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) together with Naga groups including the Naga People’s Union, Imphal, the Foothills Naga Coordination Committee and the Joint Tribe Council Manipur. The United Naga Council endorsed it and called for solidarity sit-ins at Naga district headquarters.
The protesters are demanding that the government scrap the Suspension of Operations agreement with Kuki armed groups, which expired in September and has not been renewed, and withdraw the paramilitary Assam Rifles from the state, particularly from border and conflict areas. Many Meiteis and Nagas accuse central forces of using Kuki groups as proxies against them, an accusation the Assam Rifles denies.
Anger has grown since October 19, when gunmen ambushed 14 Meitei men collecting firewood in the Sunurok hills, killing three. Meitei groups blamed Kuki armed groups, which deny involvement. A separate Naga-Kuki conflict that began in February in Ukhrul district has killed more than 50 people.
Manipur has been torn by ethnic violence since May 2023, when fighting between the Meitei majority and Kuki-Zo communities broke out, killing hundreds and displacing tens of thousands. The joining of Meitei and Naga groups in a common protest marks a shift in the state’s fractured politics, though analysts say it reflects shared immediate grievances rather than a formal alliance.
