The arrests came a day after Kuki-Zo armed groups accused security forces of violating SoO ground rules by raiding a KLA camp in Kangpokpi and detaining cadres.
BY PC Bureau
September 11, 2026: Tension over the enforcement of the Suspension of Operations (SoO) pact escalated in Manipur on Friday after CRPF CoBRA personnel arrested five cadres of the United Socialist Revolutionary Army (USRA), prompting Kuki women to stage a protest outside an Assam Rifles camp demanding their release.
The arrests came a day after Kuki armed groups under the SoO framework accused security forces of violating agreed ground rules by raiding a Kuki Liberation Army (KLA) camp in Kangpokpi and arresting cadres.
The protesting women gathered at the Hengkot Assam Rifles camp, a Company Operating Base under Headquarters 27 Sector Assam Rifles in Churachandpur district, seeking the release of the five USRA cadres.
The USRA is a constituent of the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), one of the two Kuki-Zo armed-group platforms covered by the tripartite SoO arrangement involving the Centre, the Manipur government and the Kuki-Zo groups.
READ: Kuki Inpi Manipur Rejects Demand to Scrap SoO Pact
⚡CRPFCoBRA has arrested 5 USRA cadres. KUKI womenfolk are currently protesting to try and get them released from the Hengkot Assam Rifles (AR) camp.
The Hengkot Assam Rifles Camp (Company Operating Base Hengkot) is a military base operated under HQ 27 Sector Assam Rifles in the… pic.twitter.com/Z5H3ReHqrB
— 📍SHANGH CHE🚭 (@JosephNaga1986) September 11, 2026
The latest arrests come four days after a joint operation by Manipur Police, CRPF CoBRA, Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Mahila personnel at Gampum under Saikul police station in Kangpokpi district.
Security forces had raided what authorities described as an unauthorised KLA camp and detained eight suspected cadres. Seven automatic weapons were also recovered during the operation.
Kuki Inpi and other Kuki civil society organisations subsequently condemned the operation, alleging excessive use of force and demanding the release of those detained. Kuki armed-group representatives also maintained that the operation breached the SoO ground rules.
Under the SoO framework, the groups have argued, searches or inspections of designated camps are subject to agreed procedures and monitoring mechanisms, including coordination through the Joint Monitoring Group.
The latest arrests and the protest at Hengkot are likely to further test an already strained relationship between Kuki-Zo groups and security forces over the enforcement of the ceasefire arrangement.
Kuki women have previously mobilised outside security installations and along roads to demand the release of detained cadres, making the Hengkot protest part of a broader pattern of public pressure over arrests under the SoO framework.
The immediate focus is now on how the Assam Rifles and CRPF respond to the protest and whether the five USRA cadres will be released, as tensions over SoO enforcement continue to mount in the state.
