A new manifesto from the KLA-L demands international terrorism designations for Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun, while calling for crimes-against-humanity trials for state leadership over the 2023 violence.
BY PC Bureau
May 3, 2026: On the third anniversary of what the Kuki-Zo people call “Separation Day,” the Kuki Liberation Army-Letkholun (KLA-L) has released one of its most comprehensive and hard-hitting political documents yet.
Titled “The Manifesto of Separation: A Definitive Rebuttal to State-Sponsored Terrorism and the Case for Kuki-Zo Self-Determination”, the seven-section communiqué was issued this morning from the group’s General Headquarters and immediately circulated across the hills and to the global Kuki-Zo diaspora.
Running into nearly 2,000 words and carrying the official seal of the “Government of Kukiland – Wings of the Motherland,” the manifesto is framed as both a surgical takedown of the Meitei narrative and an unapologetic roadmap to political sovereignty.
It directly counters the Arambai Tenggol GHQ statement released on May 1 and leaves no room for ambiguity: the Kuki-Zo people will accept nothing less than a Separate Administration with a Legislative Assembly under the Constitution of India, modelled on the Union Territory of Puducherry.
READ: Three Years On, Manipur’s Wounds Linger as Nation Looks Away
A Monumental Lie”: KLA-L Dismantles the May 3 Origin Story
The manifesto opens with a fierce demolition of what it calls the “May 3rd Myth” propagated by valley-based media and Meitei militias.
“The propaganda machinery of the Meitei militias, specifically the radicalized Arambai Tenggol, has spent the last three years attempting to gaslight the international community,” it declares. “They claim the Kuki-Zo people initiated the hostilities of 2023. This is a monumental lie — a ‘shameless and baseless’ fabrication that insults the intelligence of any objective observer.”
According to the KLA-L, the conflict was not a spontaneous riot but the culmination of a “cold, calculated Secret Agenda” hatched in 2020. The Arambai Tenggol, the group insists, was never a mere cultural organisation but a paramilitary force created under the direct patronage of then-Chief Minister N. Biren Singh — now widely referred to as the “Communal CM” — and MP Leishemba Sanajaoba.
Their stated goal, the manifesto alleges, was “the ethnic cleansing of the Kuki-Zo people from their ancestral hills and the Imphal Valley to facilitate a mono-ethnic hegemony.”
The document recounts the events of May 3, 2023 in vivid detail: while the tribal populace held a peaceful democratic rally, the Arambai Tenggol allegedly struck first by desecrating and torching the Anglo-Kuki War Centenary Gate — “They did not just burn wood and stone; they attacked the soul of our history.”
It further labels the subsequent fire at Kangvai a “false flag” operation of the highest order. “Meitei militias set fire to their own peripheral settlements to create a visual narrative of ‘Kuki aggression,’ using these staged flames to justify the subsequent slaughter of Kuki-Zo civilians in the valley.” The manifesto cites the testimony of Meitei individuals, including Ms. Thounoujam Brinda, as proof that “the world now knows: the Meitei Leepun and Arambai Tenggol started this war.”
State-Sponsored Pogrom” and the Imphal Valley Horrors
Section II paints a harrowing picture of what followed as anything but “communal clashing.” It describes a full-scale state-sponsored pogrom in which “the machinery of the state — the police, the administration, and the political leadership — hands over its armory to a radicalized mob.”
The leaked audio recordings of Biren Singh are described as the “smoking gun” of 20th-century-style ethnic purging, providing “logistical, tactical, and moral cover” for the Arambai Tenggol’s extermination plan.
The manifesto spares no detail in recounting the horrors inside Imphal Valley: the systematic identification of Kuki-Zo homes using government records, the barbaric lynching of innocent professionals, and the deliberate weaponisation of sexual violence.
“The rape and murder of our sisters and mothers were not ‘collateral damage’; they were deliberate tools of war used by the Meitei militias to break the spirit of a proud nation,” it states. “But they failed. They underestimated the bravery of the Kuki-Zo heart.”
Demand for Terrorist Designation and Crimes-Against-Humanity
Trials In one of its strongest passages, the KLA-L formally demands that both the Government of India and international human rights bodies stop using “euphemisms.” The Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun, it insists, are not “vigilantes” or “volunteers” — they are Terrorist Organisations.
“Their actions — mass murder, arson, the looting of thousands of state weapons, and the displacement of an entire ethnicity — fit every international criterion for terrorism.”
The manifesto goes further, calling for MP Leishemba Sanajaoba and Ex-CM N. Biren Singh to be tried for crimes against humanity, with “life imprisonment” as the minimum requirement for justice. “To allow these individuals to walk free is to admit that the Indian Constitution does not apply to the hills of Manipur.”
Blood-Sons of India” Betrayed by the Very Nation They Defended
Section IV strikes an emotional chord, reminding New Delhi of the Kuki-Zo community’s historic loyalty.
“We are the blood-sons of India, heirs to a legacy of sacrifice. Our forefathers watered this soil with their lives to defend the Indian Union; yet today, their descendants are treated as strangers in their own home.”
The manifesto asks pointedly: “How long must loyal Indian hearts bleed in silence? How long will our cries for safety be ignored by a deaf Centre? … Does our Indian blood only matter when it is spilled for your borders? If we are Indians in times of war, why are we treated as outcasts in times of our own peril?”
Contempt for “Puppet” MLAs and the Myth of Normalcy
The KLA-L reserves particular scorn for certain Non-Naga Hill Tribes (Kuki) MLAs still participating in the state government, labelling them “puppet representatives” who “do not speak for the grieving widows of our martyrs or the youth in the trenches.”
“These individuals are pursuing personal gain, clinging to their seats while the blood of their constituents is still wet on the ground,” the document states. Any dialogue involving them without addressing the core demand for separation is dismissed as a “Dialogue of the Deaf.”
READ HERE :KLA-May3 KLA-L Manifesto of Separation
The Central Government’s repeated talk of “returning to normalcy” is also rejected outright: “There is no ‘normal’ to return to. The bridge has not just been burned; it has been vaporized.”
The Uncompromising Demand: Separation Is Destiny At the heart of the manifesto lies the non-negotiable political demand:
“The events of the last three years have proven that the Kuki-Zo people and the Meitei community can no longer coexist within a single administrative framework. Forced cohabitation is a recipe for eternal war.”
The KLA-L reiterates its call for a Separate Administration with a Legislative Assembly under the Constitution of India, complete with a politically and administratively recognised boundary and full powers to legislate and secure its own future.
“Until a Union Territory with a Legislature is granted, the war will not cease. The fire of resistance will continue to burn as long as our people are denied the right to live with dignity.”
Salutation to the Martyrs and a Message to the Diaspora
The communiqué closes on a solemn and defiant note. At General Headquarters today, fighters bowed their heads in prayer for the fallen. “We honor the patriots who gave their lives so that the Kuki-Zo might live. Their sacrifice is the foundation upon which our future state will be built.”
Addressing brothers and sisters across the globe, the manifesto warns: “Do not be swayed by the sophisticated lies of the valley-based media. The road to our Land and Heritage is long, but our cause is just. The KLA-L remains committed to the total defense of our people. We will not retreat. We will not compromise on the blood of our martyrs.”
“Separation is not an option; it is our destiny.”
The document is signed by Napoleon Kuki, Department of Information & Publicity, Kuki Liberation Army-Letkholun (KLA-L), Kukiland, India.
