After Months Of Peace, Now Kuki-Naga Tensions Flare Up In Manipur, As Calls For Calm Grows
Fresh tensions between Kuki and Naga communities have surfaced in Manipur after months of relative calm with leaders from both sides urging restraint and dialogue to prevent a return to communal violence. Image courtesy: AI generated picture via DALL-E
After months of calm in the Meitei-Kuki violence hit Manipur, a fresh communal tension has flared up in the northeastern state, this time between Kuki and Naga communities.
The fresh communal trouble in the state is threatening a return of retributive violence between the two communities after violence was reported on Monday (January 26, 2026).
However, leaders from both communities met on Tuesday (January 27, 2026) and have appealed for peace between the two sides and for shunning retribution and violence entirely in the interest of the people of the state.
Tensions were already simmering between the Naga and Kuki-Zo groups this month, when it escalated on Monday (Janaury 26) after some Kuki-zo houses were burned down.
The violent incident, reported took place in the Kangpokpi region, an area carved out of the Senapati district in 2016. Kangpokpi is a Naga majority district, but has Kuki-Zo communities in a minority.
Zeliangroug United Front, a Naga insurgency group, claimed responsibility for burning down of the Kuki-Zo homes, alleging that they destroyed only illegal Poppy cultivation going on inside those structures.
The arson happened amidst two weeks of blockade of a key road connecting Kangpokpi and Churachandpur districts to pevent movement of people.
The groups on the opposide camps have, in recent weeks, accused each other of “encroaching” their respective “ancestral” lands
Meanwhile, the Naga and Kuki-Zo community “apex body” leaders met on Tuesday (January 27) and have issued a joint statement appealing for peace and to stop “any form of violence” between the communities.
Leaders of the United Naga Council (UNC), based in Senapati district, and the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM), met in Churachandpur, reportedly under the initiative of two Naga MLAs — Dinganglung Gangmei from the BJP and Awangbow Newmai from the Naga People’s Front.
After the talks, their joint statement said they “unequivocally condemn the burning down of households in K. Songlung (Part-II) village in broad daylight, rendering loss of properties and panic to the victims by the Zeliangrong United Front-Kamson group on 26 January, 2026.”
It said, “The two apex bodies appeal to the general public and all concerned to maintain peace and restrain from any form of violence between the communities.”
Further, it cautioned all fellow tribals to refrain from writing and posting unwarranted rumours, false propaganda creating animosity and tension among the communities.”
