Centre Yet To Extend SoO Pact With Kuki-Zo Groups, Pg8

Key Highlights:

• The Union Home Ministry has not extended the Suspension of Operations (SoO) pact with Kuki-Zo insurgent groups in Manipur, a month after its one-year term expired on September 4, 2025.
• The pact is currently in abeyance, with government sources indicating it will not be extended until all weapons are surrendered by the Kuki-Zo groups.
• This non-extension occurs amidst continuing violence between Naga and Kuki groups in Manipur, which has resulted in over 40 deaths since February 7.
• The Manipur government had previously refused to extend the SoO pact in February 2024, following the Meitei-Kuki-Zo violence that erupted in May 2023.
• The Centre is deploying an additional 30 companies of CRPF (around 3,000 personnel) and two battalions of CoBRA (around 2,000 personnel) to the state to address the security situation.

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Detailed Insights:

• The SoO pact was originally signed in 2008 between the United Peoples’ Front, the Kuki National Organisation (a coalition of 24 insurgent groups), the Home Ministry, and the Manipur government following Kuki-Naga clashes in the 1990s.
• The agreement, which has been periodically extended, aims to confine cadres to designated camps and monitor their weapons.
• The Manipur government's refusal to extend the pact in February 2024 was a direct response to the widespread ethnic violence between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities that began in May 2023.
• Despite the state government's earlier stance, a re-negotiated SoO pact was signed on September 4, 2025, which has now expired.
• Naga and Meitei civil society groups, including Deputy Chief Minister Losii Dikho, have advocated for the abrogation of the SoO pact.
• Kuki-Zo SoO group members claim that security forces regularly inspect their camps and all weapons are accounted for.
• Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to visit Senapati, a Naga-dominated district in Manipur, on October 7, marking his second visit since the 2023 violence.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Suspension of Operations (SoO) Pact: A formal agreement between government forces and insurgent groups to halt offensive military actions, often a precursor to peace talks.
• President's Rule: Imposition of direct central government rule in an Indian state when its constitutional machinery fails, as per Article 356 of the Constitution.
• Ethnic Conflict: Disputes and armed confrontations between groups with differing ethnic identities, often driven by competition for resources, historical grievances, or political power struggles.