Day before 2023 Manipur violence started, political settlement was discussed with govt., says insurgent group

The Kuki-Zos were about to finalise a political peace pact with the Union Home Ministry and the Manipur government a day before ethnic violence between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei people erupted in Manipur on May 3, 2023, a spokesperson of an insurgent group said.

Aron Kipgen, the spokesperson of the United People’s Front (UPF), a Kuki-Zo group that signed the Suspension of Operations (SoO) pact with the Ministry and the Manipur government, told The Hindu that they were conveyed Home Minister Amit Shah’s message to either culminate the political settlement or wind up the pact first signed in 2008 following Naga-Kuki violence.