MHA yet to extend Suspension of Operations pact with Kuki-Zo groups a month after expiry

Amid continuing violence between the Naga and Kuki communities in Manipur, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is yet to extend the Suspension of Operations (SoO) pact with the Kuki-Zo insurgent groups, a month after the one-year agreement expired.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to visit Senapati, a Naga-dominated district in Manipur, on October 7. This will be his second visit to the State since the 2023 violence. He had visited Imphal in April 2024 to address a political rally ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Additional forces

During Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan’s review of the security situation in the State on September 30, a senior government official said it was decided to send 30 more companies of the CRPF (around 3,000 personnel) and two battalions of CoBRA (around 2,000 personnel) for deployment in the State.

On September 4, 2025, the MHA, the Manipur Government, and the Kuki-Zo groups signed the SoO pact on “re-negotiated terms and conditions or ground rules,” after the Manipur Government in February 2024 refused to extend the agreement, in force since 2008, in the wake of the ethnic violence that erupted between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo people on May 3, 2023.

Pact in abeyance

Government sources told The Hindu that the pact is in abeyance till all weapons are surrendered by the Kuki-Zo groups. The presence of a large number of weapons with civilians is one of the prime drivers of violence and killings in the northeastern State, a government official said. Meitei and Naga civil society groups, including Deputy Chief Minister Losii Dikho, have demanded the abrogation of the SoO pact.