Kuki-Zo SoO pact still unrenewed 73 days on as Manipur nears 2027 polls

The Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement between the Centre, the Manipur government and Kuki-Zo armed groups lapsed on September 4. As of Monday, November 16, 73 days later, the Union Home Ministry has given no sign that it will renew it.

The Tribune reported on Sunday night that the delay now appears tied to Manipur's next Assembly election, due in May 2027. "Upcoming assembly elections seem to have taken precedence," a senior Kuki-Zo tribal leader told the newspaper. The same leader described the situation as "no news is good news", saying the status quo continues. A senior government official declined to comment to The Tribune on whether Home Minister Amit Shah, whose Manipur visit had been expected in October, would visit soon.

What the pact covered

The tripartite pact was first signed in 2008 with two umbrella groups, the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and the United People's Front (UPF). It has been renewed periodically since then.

According to figures reported by The Times of India, the KNO has 17 outfits with about 1,100 cadres and the UPF has eight outfits with about 1,000. The Economic Times put the number of cadres living in designated camps across Manipur's hill districts at 2,266.

The last renewal, on September 4, 2025, was signed while Manipur was under President's Rule. It came with revised ground rules, The Times of India and The Hindu reported. The groups agreed to:

• relocate seven designated camps away from conflict-prone areas and reduce the number of camps;
• move their weapons to the nearest CRPF or BSF camps;
• allow security forces to physically verify cadres and remove any foreign nationals from the lists;
• reaffirm Manipur's territorial integrity.

Lapsed, abrogated or "in abeyance"?

Official accounts of the pact's current status differ. On October 23, Manipur Home Minister Konthoujam Govindas Singh said "there is no SoO agreement existing in the state now", according to The Times of India. He added that once the pact had lapsed, the suspension of security operations against these groups had ended too.

Government sources told The Hindu on October 2 that the pact was "in abeyance" until the Kuki-Zo groups surrender all their weapons. A member of one SoO group told the same newspaper that not extending the pact "does not mean it has been abrogated".

The Centre has not issued a formal order either way, leaving the camps in a grey zone.

How the pressure built: a timeline

NEInsider has tracked the dispute over the pact since October:

• October 23-26: A joint force raided the Sinai designated camp in Kangpokpi and found 18 people against a sanctioned strength of about 150. Police said 17 of them were impersonating registered cadres. The CRPF then took over the camp.
• October 25: Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh visited the Sinai camp and urged the groups to surrender their arms.
• October 31: Thousands rallied in Imphal demanding an end to the SoO pact. The United Naga Council wrote to Amit Shah seeking its abrogation as Naga districts held their own rallies.
• November 13: Four Tangkhul Naga civilians were killed in an ambush on the Imphal-Ukhrul road. Civil society groups then repeated their demand that the pact be fully abrogated, and a 24-hour statewide strike began at midnight on November 15.

Meitei and Naga groups, as well as Deputy Chief Minister Losii Dikho, have demanded that the pact be abrogated, The Tribune and The Hindu reported. The Tribune put the death toll from Naga-Kuki violence since February 7 at more than 50. The Hindu's count in early October was more than 40, in Ukhrul, Kangpokpi and Kamjong districts.

What this means on the ground

The lack of a decision matters most in the hill districts. For Naga villages in Ukhrul, Kamjong, Senapati and Kangpokpi, and for Meitei groups in the valley, the camps remain a grievance because the pact has not been formally ended. For Kuki-Zo groups, the ground rules that once defined their status are no longer in force.

The state Home Minister has said security forces can now act against cadres, but there is no written framework for what happens to the camps. An SoO group member told The Hindu that the groups last met the Centre's interlocutor, Ajit Lal, on April 30.

What happens next

• November 17: The Tangkhul Naga Long's three-day ultimatum over the Ukhrul ambush ends around this date.
• Amit Shah's visit: No date has been announced. The visit had been expected in October.
• May 2027: The Assembly election is due. If The Tribune's sources are right, a decision on the SoO pact may depend on the poll calendar rather than the security situation.

NEInsider will update this story if the Home Ministry announces a renewal, a formal abrogation or a new framework for the camps.