IMPHAL (The Thursday Times) — Tangkhul Naga groups in India’s north-eastern state of Manipur have given the federal and state governments until November 16 to meet their demands after four Naga civilians were killed in a highway ambush, warning of an indefinite agitation if they do not.
The Tangkhul Naga Long, the community’s apex body, and the Tangkhul Naga Foothills Organisation issued the ultimatum after an emergency meeting in Ukhrul on Friday. They want the case handed to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the removal of what they called “Kuki terrorists” from Naga areas.
The groups said they had lost faith in the central security forces deployed in the area and demanded their withdrawal. The families of the four victims have resolved not to claim the bodies until the demands are met, the Tangkhul Naga Long said. “Our restraint is not weakness,” it said in a statement.
Gunmen opened fire on a car and a pick-up travelling from Ukhrul towards Imphal at New Haven on National Highway 202 at around 1 pm on Friday, killing all four people inside, police said. The Naga groups said the attack happened a few hundred metres from a Border Security Force outpost and was the fourth at the same spot.
Police said reinforcements from the Manipur Police, the Border Security Force, the army, and the Assam Rifles had been sent to the area and that search operations were under way. No group has said it carried out the attack.
Deputy Chief Minister Losii Dikho condemned the killings and appealed for dialogue, saying the government would not rest until those responsible were punished.
A new front in Manipur
Kuki-Zo groups in Ukhrul have condemned the ambush and denied that their community was involved. The Kuki Inpi Manipur, a Kuki body, has separately given the state police 72 hours to clarify statements it says showed ethnic bias.
The ambush came a day after a Kuki woman was shot dead in a gunfight near Taphou Kuki village in Kangpokpi district. Clashes between Naga and Kuki groups have opened a new front in Manipur’s conflict, which broke out between the Meitei and Kuki communities in May 2023 and has killed hundreds of people and driven tens of thousands from their homes.
