KOHUR Condemns MHA repeated discriminatory imposition of AFSPA in the state of Manipur

The Kukis Organization for Human Rights (KOHUR) strongly condemns the Notification S.O. 4379(E) dated 26th September 2025 issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, under Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. By this notification, the Central Government has extended the declaration of the State of Manipur as a “disturbed area” for six months with effect from 1st April 2025, while deliberately excluding thirteen police stations in five valley districts.

This selective and discriminatory application of AFSPA is emblematic of the Central Government’s policy of appeasement towards the dominant Meitei community. It violates the constitutional guarantee of equality before the law under Article 14 of the Constitution of India, since it shields the very jurisdictions where violence and lawlessness have been most rampant, while continuing to impose AFSPA on the comparatively peaceful tribal hill districts. Such conduct reflects not neutrality but calculated bias.

The valley has been the epicentre of the ongoing violence. More than five thousand firearms and large stocks of ammunition were looted from government armouries in valley jurisdictions, and yet no meaningful accountability has been enforced. Despite this collapse of order, the Central Government has perversely chosen to exempt the valley from AFSPA, rewarding impunity while punishing the already vulnerable tribal hills with continued militarisation.

The events of the past week further expose the dangerous fallacy of this decision. On Saturday, two individuals from Manipur were detained in connection with the ambush on an Assam Rifles convoy that killed two soldiers and injured five others. The ambush was carried out by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), a valley-based secessionist group that has repeatedly attacked Central forces and continues to operate with impunity. This single incident demonstrates beyond doubt that the valley remains the principal theatre of insurgency, militancy, and lawlessness, while the hills remain comparatively peaceful. If AFSPA were to be applied rationally and on security considerations alone, it is the valley that requires it, not the tribal hills.

Yet, by insulating the valley from AFSPA and targeting the hills, the Government has created a dangerous asymmetry in governance. Valley-based militants who brazenly attack security forces are effectively shielded, while tribal populations are subjected to heavy-handed militarisation. This is not governance in the service of justice but governance in the service of ethnic majoritarianism.

The Supreme Court of India, in Naga People’s Movement of Human Rights v. Union of India (1997), had made clear that AFSPA cannot be exercised arbitrarily or discriminatorily. The Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee (2005) went further, recommending repeal of AFSPA altogether because of its disproportionate impact on minorities and its legacy of abuse. In ignoring these authoritative warnings, the Government of India has acted with disregard for both constitutional protections and judicial guidance.

Equally, the notification violates India’s obligations under international human rights law, particularly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture, which mandate equality before law and protection of minorities from persecution. The selective exemption of valley jurisdictions—despite being the epicentre of armed violence—demonstrates discrimination on ethnic lines and exposes the State’s complicity in the systemic persecution of the Kuki-Zo people.

KOHUR denounces this notification as an instrument of injustice. By refusing to recognise the valley as the epicentre of lawlessness and exempting it from AFSPA, the Government has emboldened valley-based militants, rewarded impunity, and endangered the tribal communities who now face continued militarisation despite their relative peace. The notification is not a measure for security; it is a political tool that entrenches bias and persecution.

Unless this discriminatory order is immediately reviewed and corrected, unless looted arms are recovered and valley-based perpetrators are prosecuted, unless impartiality in governance is restored, the notification of 26th September 2025 will deepen the crisis in Manipur. It will erode what little remains of public trust in the impartiality of the State, and it will stand as further proof of official complicity in the ethnic persecution of the Kuki-Zo community.

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Department of Information & Publicity
Kuki Organization for Human Rights Trust

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