United Naga Council seeks PM Modi's intervention over Manipur situation

Newmai News Network
Imphal | June 28

The United Naga Council (UNC) has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention in the prevailing Manipur situation. The Naga body also demanded the protection of Naga areas and justice for six murdered Naga civilians.

Addressing a press conference at Press Club of India in New Delhi on Saturday evening, the UNC, the apex body of the 21 Naga tribes of Manipur, demanded the immediate intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Government on, what it said, the rapidly deteriorating situation in Manipur especially in the Naga areas.

The UNC delegation has been camping in Delhi since June 23.

Today's press conference was facilitated by Delhi Solidarity Group. The UNC delegation placed before the national media its recent memorandum to the Prime Minister, jointly submitted by the United Naga Council, Naga Women’s Union and All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur. 

The memorandum calls for urgent intervention against what it describes as a proxy war against the Nagas by Suspension of Operation (SoO) Kuki militants and Myanmar-based KNA(B), not only as a violation of the Indo-Naga Framework Agreement of August 3, 2015, but also a serious threat to India’s frontier security.

The media briefing was led by senior Naga leaders including Vareiyo Shatsang (UNC general secretary), Samson Remei (President of the Working Committee of UNC), AC Thotso (Member Secretary of the UNC Working Committee), KS Paul Leo (former UNC president) and L Adani (former UNC president). 

The delegation has been in Delhi meeting political leaders, civil society groups, women’s organisations, peace workers and concerned citizens to place before the country the position of the Naga people and seek immediate constitutional and political intervention.

The UNC stated that this is the first time Naga elders from Manipur are addressing the national media in Delhi after the recent cycle of violence in which the Naga people and their land have been directly threatened and dragged into conflict in Manipur when people are still unable to recover from the Meitei–Kuki conflict in May 2023 that reflects a deeper conspiracy against the Naga people and their commitment to peace. The public trust in the ability of both the State and Union Governments to protect life and civil order is highly questionable, it said.

The UNC leaders said the immediate context of the press conference is the abduction of Naga civilians on May 13, 2026, following the killing of three Thadou church leaders earlier that day, 20 Naga civilians were taken hostage by Kuki militant groups at Leilon Vaiphei village and Sapermaina Kuki village. Fourteen were released on May 15, while six remained missing despite repeated extensions given by the UNC to the Government of Manipur to trace and secure their release, the UNC leaders also said.

On June 9, Naga village guards released 14 Kuki detainees facilitated by the UNC and Naga People Organization, Senapati. The UNC described this as a humane act carried out despite intense public anger. "The Naga people expected this gesture to be reciprocated. Instead, on June 10, the six Naga civilians who had remained in captivity were recovered as lifeless, mutilated and dismembered human remains", they also said. The UNC said this has caused immense pain and unspeakable trauma to the bereaved families and the Naga people at large, and has shaken public faith in the government’s ability to secure innocent civilians.

The UNC demanded a time-bound, independent and court-monitored investigation into the abduction and brutal killing of the six Naga civilians. It further demanded concrete security guarantees for all Naga-inhabited areas in Manipur, especially vulnerable zones where civilians have faced intimidation, hostage-taking and armed movement. The UNC underlined that large parts of what is now Kangpokpi is historically  Zeliangrong Naga ancestral lands, and that any violence, militarised assertion or demographic intimidation in these areas must be treated as a serious matter of Naga security and territorial protection.

Referring to its memorandum to the Prime Minister, the UNC said the situation cannot be reduced to a routine law-and-order problem or an internal communal clash. It argued that the May 7 attacks on Naga villages in Ukhrul and Kamjong, including Namlee-Wanglee, Choro and Kaka, involved cross-border armed movement, military-grade weapons, drone attacks, rocket launchers and coordinated assault by armed cadres. The memorandum invokes Article 355 of the Constitution, under which the Union is bound to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance.

"Our appeal to the Prime Minister is direct. Honour the Framework Agreement, secure the Naga areas and stop treating armed aggression against Naga civilians as a local disturbance. This concerns the credibility of India’s peace process and the security of its eastern frontier", the UNC leaders added.

The UNC delegation then said the Naga people have shown restraint. "We released detainees honourably when emotions were running high. But restraint cannot mean abandonment. Justice for the six murdered civilians and security guarantees for Naga areas are the minimum obligations of the Union Government", they also said.

The UNC team then said the Naga people are not in Delhi to add another voice of hatred. "We are here to ask for justice, protection and a political response from the Government of India. The Prime Minister must hear directly that public trust in peace agreements and security institutions is at stake", they added.

The UNC reiterated its core demands to the Union Government. These include: immediate arrest and prosecution of all KNF-P personnel involved in the abduction of Naga civilians and the killing of six of them; arrest and prosecution of those involved in the killing of Wilson Thanga Chiru at Joujangtek on the same day; arrest and prosecution of the Chief of Leilon Vaiphei village and all individuals alleged to have participated in the abduction and killing; and action against the serving Manipur Police personnel named by UNC for alleged personal involvement in the crime.

The UNC also demanded declaration of the Kuki National Front-President group as a terrorist organisation. It called for abrogation of the Suspension of Operations agreement with Kuki militant groups. The council stated that  SoO groups continue to operate outside designated camps and engage in violence, which makes the agreement lose its moral and administrative legitimacy.

The UNC further demanded the removal of Nemcha Kipgen from the position of Deputy Chief Minister of Manipur, citing UNC’s allegation regarding her family connection as wife of the  KNF-P leadership and the serious conflict this creates in matters of internal security.

The UNC also placed before the media the wider demands made to the Prime Minister: uphold the Framework Agreement of August 3, 2015; end all forms of appeasement towards armed groups violating ground rules; evict illegal armed cadres from Liangmai and Inpui Naga areas, Ukhrul, Kamjong, Kangpokpi and other Naga areas; give an absolute guarantee that no separate administration, autonomy or territorial council shall touch Naga ancestral lands; restore and sanitise national highways; institute a time-bound judicial inquiry into the May 7, cross-border attacks and sustained attacks since February 7, 2026; and asserted to expedite a final, honourable and inclusive Indo-Naga political settlement as it holds the key to the future of the Eastern frontiers.

The UNC emphasised that the Naga people are acting through a unified civil and traditional platform. "The 21 Naga tribes of Manipur stand under the collective authority of the United Naga Council.

This gives the Naga position coherence and discipline at a time when armed groups and fragmented claims are deepening the violence in Manipur. The Council stated that it remains committed to peace, coexistence and lawful redressal, but will not accept the abandonment of Naga civilians by the State or Union Government," the UNC leaders further said.

The UNC leaders then called upon all civil societies, women’s organisations, church bodies, traditional institutions and national democratic forces to support a just peace based on truth, accountability, territorial security and protection of civilians.