The Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR) has issued a grave condemnation of the extrajudicial killing of four Kuki youths in Manipur by combined state and central security forces, describing it as yet another episode in a systematic campaign of state-sponsored persecution against the Kuki-Zo tribal community. KOHUR identifies this incident as part of a broader architecture of violence that has been unfolding since May 2023 under the Biren Singh-led government.
According to verified accounts, the four youths were killed by personnel of the 21 Para Special Forces and the Assam Rifles, following an encounter staged under disputed circumstances. KOHUR strongly rejects the official narrative labelling the deceased as “terrorists,” calling it a fabricated justification for state excesses and a calculated attempt to vilify an entire community.
The cold-blooded execution of these young men is not an isolated event but the continuation of a genocidal campaign aimed at annihilating the Kuki-Zo people from their ancestral lands. The Biren-led administration has forfeited its constitutional legitimacy by arming and abetting Meitei extremist militias while criminalising the very existence of Kuki-Zo villagers defending their homes.
A Campaign of Extermination and State Complicity
KOHUR’s documentation reveals an entrenched pattern of militia-led violence, institutional impunity, and state complicity that has defined the Manipur conflict since the orchestrated attacks of May 3, 2023.
The crisis, the organisation asserts, is not merely an ethnic clash but a state-directed campaign of ethnic cleansing, executed through the mobilisation of radical Meitei militias such as Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun. The systematic looting of more than 6,000 automatic weapons and over 500,000 rounds of ammunition from government armouries empowered these groups to act as the state’s proxy militias, operating openly and with impunity across the Imphal Valley.
While these armed groups have been seen conducting daylight patrols, attacking police posts, and kidnapping officials, the government has neither launched operations against them nor held their leadership accountable. Instead, Kuki-Zo village volunteers—who mobilised arms solely in self-defence—have been branded as “insurgents” or “terrorists” and subjected to arbitrary arrest, NIA investigations, and targeted detentions.
The Kuki-Zo community did not take up arms by choice but by compulsion. When faced with coordinated attacks by state-backed Meitei militias, the villagers had no option but to defend their lives, homes, and families. Their mobilisation was defensive, rooted in survival—not aggression.
Recent Killings of Hmar Village Volunteers in Jiribam
KOHUR also drew attention to the killing of Hmar village volunteers in Jiribam, who were shot dead by central security forces. The incident, reported by The Sangai Express and The Imphal Free Press, mirrors the extrajudicial pattern seen across Kuki-Zo areas, where victims are branded as “militants” posthumously to justify unlawful killings.
To this day, no inquiry or accountability process has been initiated into the Jiribam killings. Families of the deceased remain without justice or recognition, and the perpetrators continue to enjoy impunity under the shield of official protection.
Selective Application of AFSPA and Institutional Bias
KOHUR further condemned the selective imposition of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) in Manipur, which excludes 13 police stations—all located in the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley—from its purview. This discriminatory exemption, implemented and renewed by the Biren Singh government with the approval of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, grants legal immunity to central and state forces operating in Kuki-Zo tribal regions while shielding the majority-dominated areas from military oversight.
This selective enforcement, KOHUR stated, constitutes a deliberate mechanism of suppression against the minority Kuki-Zo population. It exposes how state power and military authority are disproportionately concentrated in tribal territories, enabling unchecked violence, arbitrary detentions, and extrajudicial killings under the protection of AFSPA.
By lifting AFSPA from Meitei areas while retaining it in tribal regions, the state has created two legal systems—one of privilege and another of persecution,” KOHUR asserted. “This decision is not administrative but ideological: it codifies inequality and legitimises the ongoing militarisation of the Kuki-Zo homeland.”
Collapse of Constitutional Order
Manipur today represents a collapse of constitutional governance, where ethnonationalist militias act as state auxiliaries and central forces operate with absolute impunity. Over 60,000 Kuki-Zo civilians remain displaced, their homes destroyed, and their lands seized, while the state’s constitutional promises stand hollow.
KOHUR asserts that domestic mechanisms—judicial, administrative, and security—have completely failed to uphold the rule of law, leaving the tribal population without any effective avenue for justice or protection.
KOHUR’s Global Appeal
Given the scale of atrocities and the complicity of state actors, KOHUR calls upon the international community, the United Nations, and global human rights institutions to act urgently. The organisation urges:
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An independent international investigation into the extrajudicial killings of Kuki youths, the Hmar village volunteers, and all documented atrocities since May 2023.
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Accountability and sanctions against state and central officials responsible for human rights violations against the Kuki-Zo community.
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Immediate dismantling of Meitei extremist militias, recovery of looted arms, and restoration of law and order under neutral oversight.
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Deployment of international observers or a UN human rights monitoring mission to ensure civilian protection and adherence to India’s obligations under the ICCPR and CAT.
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Recognition and protection of the Kuki-Zo people’s right to life, liberty, and self-governance, including through a separate administrative arrangement ensuring security and equality.
KOHUR reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to peaceful advocacy, legal documentation, and humanitarian relief for the Kuki-Zo people. It warned that without immediate intervention, Manipur risks permanent ethnic segregation and a deepening human rights catastrophe.
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