Manipur tension flares after bodies of two missing Kuki youths found

Guwahati: Tension is running high in Manipur following the recovery of the bodies of two Kuki youths who went missing from Taphou Kuki village on October 28.

Overnight clashes broke out on Sunday between protesters and security forces in Kangpokpi district.

A senior police officer said security forces had a tough time controlling the protesters. They fired multiple rounds of tear gas shells to disperse large crowds gathered outside the office of the Superintendent of Police (SP). “Several people are injured,” the officer said.


The civil society organisation Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), Sadar Hills, refused to claim the bodies until the government met its five-point charter of demands.

The organisation had alleged that the youths were abducted by armed Naga militants from Taphou Kuki village.

“The Kuki-Zo community will never accept or claim those dead bodies until and unless the charter of demands is met,” CoTU spokesperson Ng. Lun Kipgen said.

The five demands include the immediate removal of Deputy Chief Minister Losii Dikho; the transfer of Taphou Kuki village from the jurisdiction of the Senapati SP to that of the Kangpokpi SP; the withdrawal of all NSCN-IM camps from Senapati district; the transfer of the case concerning the deaths to the National Investigation Agency (NIA); and the immediate arrest of those responsible.

In a statement issued late on Sunday, Kipgen said CoTU had extended the total shutdown.

Meanwhile, Manipur Congress leaders met party president Mallikarjun Kharge and its Lok Sabha leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Monday to discuss the prevailing law and order situation in the state.

The meeting was attended by state Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Keisham Meghachandra, state Congress president O Ibobi Singh, AICC in-charge of Manipur Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka and others.

In a social media post, Meghachandra said the meeting focused on the prevailing law and order situation in Manipur, continuing violence and insecurity, and the failure to restore lasting peace and normalcy in the state.

“We also held detailed discussions on the forthcoming Manipur Legislative Assembly election and the organisational preparedness and strategies of the Congress,” he said.

The people of the state deserved peace, security, stability and accountable governance, the CLP leader said, adding that “the future of Manipur and the restoration of lasting peace remain our foremost priorities”.

Security agencies claim that more than 50 people have been killed in ethnic clashes between the two tribal communities in the state since early this year.

At least 306 people have been killed and 49 remain missing in the ethnic violence that has gripped Manipur since May 2023, Home Minister Govindas Konthoujam told the state Assembly on September 3, 2026.

More than 60,000 people were displaced after ethnic violence broke out between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities on May 3, 2023. The violence erupted after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status.