Kuki-Zo groups on Wednesday (October 21, 2026) demanded the re-imposition of President’s Rule in Manipur, claiming that at least 32 people from the community have been killed since March 2026.

President’s Rule was revoked in Manipur on February 4 this year after being imposed a year earlier, on February 13, 2025.

The Kuki-Zo Women’s Forum, Delhi said that at least 32 Kuki-Zo people, including two pregnant women and 10 other women, had been killed since March 2026 in violence it attributed to members of the Isak-Muivah faction of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) and the Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF-Kamson). The Forum also claimed that around 55 houses in 14 Kuki-Zo villages had been burnt during the period.

‘No Kuki-Zo deaths under Central rule’

At a press conference in Delhi, Kuki-Zo Council spokesperson Ginza Vualzong claimed that no Kuki-Zo civilian had been killed during the President’s Rule. The Council sought the reimposition of Central rule “in the interest of the safety, security, and dignity of the Kuki-Zo people”.

The organisation also reiterated its demand for a separate administration for the Kuki-Zo community in the form of a Union Territory with a legislature, arguing that the prolonged ethnic conflict in the State had eroded the community’s confidence in the existing administrative arrangement.

Economic hardships

Mr. Vualzong added that prices of essential commodities in the Kuki-Zo-inhabited areas of Kangpokpi, Ukhrul and Kamjong districts and the Longpi area of Noney/Tamenglong had gone beyond the reach of ordinary people.

He claimed that residents of Chassad and Aishi villages in Kamjong had faced an economic embargo, while supplies to villages in the Kotlen and Leilon areas of Kangpokpi had been obstructed. He further accused the United Naga Council (UNC) of blocking commodities bound for Kangpokpi town at Namdilong and Senapati.

As a consequence, petrol prices had risen to ₹250 a litre and LPG cylinders to ₹5,000 in affected area, he said.

‘Political settlement needed’

“Manipur is not a security problem, it is a political problem and requires the solution accordingly,” he said, insisting that the continuing violence involving both the Meitei-Kuki-Zo conflict and more recent clashes involving Naga and Kuki-Zo groups demonstrated the need for a political settlement.

The ethnic violence between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei people which started on May 3, 2023 has claimed that lives of more than 350 people so far. Since February 7 this year, another wave of ethnic violence between the Kuki and Naga groups has erupted in the State.