3 min readMar 22, 2026 11:37 AM IST
For the first time since the start of the ongoing conflict, Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh led a meeting with leaders of the Churachandpur-based civil society organisation, the Kuki-Zo Council, in Guwahati on Saturday evening.
This is the first time that a Chief Minister of the state has met and engaged with the body since ethnic violence broke out in May 2023. Insurgent groups under Suspension of Operations (SoO) arrangements with the government have been engaged in talks with representatives of the Union government’s Ministry of Home Affairs, during which they have been demanding a separate administration in the form of a Union Territory.
KZC leaders who attended the meeting, which lasted around an hour and 45 minutes, called it an “ice-breaker” and “introductory” one and indicated the possibility of more interactions in the future.
Earlier this week, the Secretary to the Chief Minister wrote to Henlianthang Thanglet, chairperson of the KZC, requesting a meeting with him and other members of the KZC in Guwahati to “discuss matters related to bringing back peace and normalcy in Manipur”.
“We would not have agreed to the meeting if Biren Singh was still the Chief Minister. Since there is a new government, we agreed to come,” said Thanglet. The KZC had announced a “social boycott” of MLAs from the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar community who had decided to participate in the new government when it was formed in February after a year of President’s Rule in the state. After Saturday’s meeting, Thanglet said, “There was no resolution or agreement as such in the meeting. We discussed our demands, and maybe there will be more meetings to discuss them.”
In a statement, the KZC said that the issues they had raised in the meeting included the need to de-escalate tensions between Kuki and Tangkhul communities in Ukhrul district, which has been seeing violence since last month; as well as “maintaining the sanctity of the buffer zone” – areas between Meitei inhabited areas and Kuki-Zo inhabited areas, which have largely been heavily manned by security forces through the course of the conflict – till a political settlement is reached. It also stated that it raised “the imperative of ensuring justice for the victims of the conflict as a fundamental prerequisite for any meaningful peace and reconciliation process”.
Stating that these issues were “attentively heard by the Chief Minister”, the KZC said he “shared his concerns, commitments, and the steps undertaken by his government to restore peace and normalcy in Manipur”.
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Since taking charge on February 4, the primary focus of the new state government under Khemchand has been outreach and reconciliation in the deeply divided state.
