Calling the agreement between MHA and Kuki-Zo groups as “illegitimate and hegemonic,” COCOMI said the move ignored the Manipur Cabinet’s 2023 resolution and the Assembly’s 2024 demand to abrogate the SoO.
BY PC Bureau
September 5, 2025: The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), a prominent Meitei civil and cultural organisation, on Friday strongly condemned the Government of India’s decision to extend the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with what it described as “Chin-Kuki armed narco-terrorist groups.” The agreement was signed and announced in New Delhi on 4 September 2025.
“This extension, despite the series of terrorist and criminal acts committed by these groups, was completely against the interests of the indigenous people of Manipur,” COCOMI said in a statement issued by its IPR Sub-Committee convenor Laikhuram Jayenta.
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By granting legitimacy to what it repeatedly termed “narco-terrorist groups,” the Government of India had, according to COCOMI, cast serious doubt on its own credibility in fighting narco-terrorism. “Since the inception of the SoO in 2005 and 2008, these agreements only shielded armed groups while undermining the democratic will of the people. Now the international community too will question India’s sincerity when it is seen to provide safe passage and impunity to such elements,” it said.
COCOMI also criticised the Centre for ignoring the unanimous resolution of the Manipur Legislative Assembly passed on 29 February 2024 urging revocation of the SoO. “Instead, the President’s Rule administration was made a party to the tripartite talks without any mandate from the people. This was nothing but a complete compromise of democratic principles,” the organisation stated.
The group further argued that the Government had undermined constitutional guarantees of free movement for citizens. “By making this a bargaining chip with armed groups, the Centre has effectively held the Meitei population hostage under ‘narco-terrorist’ influence. This is utterly unacceptable,” it declared.
COCOMI concluded that the extension of the SoO would “always be viewed as legitimising ‘narco-terrorist’ operations and granting them impunity under a deceptive pact, while undermining the rights, security, and future of the indigenous people of Manipur and the Northeast region at large.”
This marked the first official opposition by a Meitei group to the SoO extension, even though Meiteis on social media had already been expressing widespread anger since yesterday against the agreement.
