THE present Kuki-Naga clashes that erupted in 2026 are the third round of clashes between the Kukis and Nagas in Manipur.
The first round occurred between 1957 and 1971 (approximately). Very little direct information is available about it since it was a remote corner of India relatively unreachable to the media at that time. Modern research shows that many Kuki villages in Naga-dominated areas (Tamenglong and Noney, Senapati, Ukhrul and Kamjong) were evicted, by issuing threats and quit notices, along with targeted killings. The Kuki organisation COPTAM-KH has a record of 67 villages having been displaced. This may be an undercount. Dr. Thongkholal Haokip of JNU has documented that, according to the census records, the above districts lost 121 villages between 1951 and 1961, perhaps even more by 1971.
The second round of clashes occurred between 1992 and 1997. COPTAM-KH data shows that over 1,000 Kukis were killed during that period and 100,000 Kukis were displaced. Kukis also had armed groups at this time, and so retaliated to the Naga atrocities. Some Naga villages moved out of the present-day Kangpokpi district (then called "Sadar Hills"), but many still remain. Some villages also grew in size. For example, the Konsakhul village, from which six Nagas were killed recently, doubled in size between 1991 and 2001, indicating that it felt safe during the conflict.
The first conflict was spearheaded by the Naga National Council (NNC) under Angami Zapu Phizo, which was a de facto armed group. The objective was apparently to clear out the Kuki villages from the Naga-dominated areas so that a territory of the "Naga nation" could be established. The second round of conflict was driven by NSCN (IM), which started as a rebel faction of NNC that refused to accept the Shillong Accord, pursuing the same goals. Both NNC and NSCN (IM) operate parallel governments in Naga-inhabited areas, called FGN (Federal Government of Nagaland) and GPRN (Government of the People's Republic of Nagaland/Nagalim).
In the present Manipur conflict, the Nagas initially maintained distance. In retrospect, this appears to have been a ruse to maintain the fiction that the conflict was driven by the Scheduled Tribe demand of the Meiteis. But the Nagas had signed on to the "Kuki illegal immigrant" bogey much earlier. In June 2022, UNC (United Naga Council) and COCOMI (Committee for the Coordination of Manipur Integrity) had submitted a joint memorandum to CM Biren Singh demanding NRC in Manipur.
In October 2024, the GPRN declared that the Litan Bazar area in Ukhrul district belonged to the Sikibung village, rekindling a dispute that had been dormant since 1973 and overriding a Manipur High Court judgement that confirmed a stream between the two villages (called Khoirulok) as the official border. In April 2025, two Kuki villages called Gampal and Haijang in Kamjong district were burnt by Naga militants for no apparent reason. A full-blown conflict started on 7 February 2026 when the Sikibung village got involved in a local incident in Litan Sareikhong, implicitly invoking the jurisdiction granted to it by GPRN. This resulted in clashes between the Kukis and Tangkhuls within Litan Sareikhong, which has been one of the few remaining multi-ethnic villages in Ukhrul district. (Prior to independence, many villages in Ukhrul district had mixed populations. They split up around 1947.)
Starting from Litan, the conflict escalated by leaps and bounds, consuming 42 lives by the last count, with ongoing economic blockades in multiple districts. The state and central governments seem entirely uninterested in establishing law and order, recalling the erstwhile Biren Singh regime. The situation now may be even worse because Assam Rifles has been replaced in many places by CRPF, which has no Army supervision.
The latest round
of killings targeting women and children in isolated Kuki villages, with total
government inaction in addressing them, puts us firmly back in the 1990s
territory. The more things change, the more they appear to stay the same.
References:
● Haokip, Thongkholal, “Home and Belonging in Northeast India”, in
Amit Ranjan, Diotima Chattoraj (eds), Migration, Regional Autonomy, and
Conflicts in Eastern South Asia: Searching for a Home(land), Springer, 2023.
● Haokip, Thongkholal, “Territoriality, Conflict and Citizenship in the
India–Myanmar Borderlands”, The Journal of Indian and Asian Studies,
January 2023, DOI: 10.1142/S2717541323500018
● Shri
Wungreikhan Kasar vs State Of Manipur, Manipur High Court, 25 March
2021.
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