In the Guwahati meeting with Kuki-Zo Council leadrs, the Manipur Chief Minister is likely to urge easing umanitarian distress through freer movement, reopening access, and facilitating the return of IDPs.
By PC Bureau
Imphal, March 20, 2026: Resettlement of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs), removal of buffer zones, and restoration of free movement along national highways are expected to dominate talks between Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh and leaders of the Kuki-Zo Council (KZC) in Guwahati on Saturday.
Sources said the Manipur government is likely to impress upon Kuki-Zo civil society leaders that their core political demand for a separate administrative arrangement lies with the Centre, and that the state government has little role in deciding that question. Officials are expected to argue that, until the Centre and Kuki representatives, including leaders of armed groups under the Suspension of Operations (SoO) arrangement, move forward on the political track, there is little justification for prolonging hardships faced by ordinary people.
In seeking removal of buffer zones and freer movement, the Chief Minister is expected to tell KZC leaders that such steps would ease the suffering of thousands of Kuki-Zo people who remain cut off from access to the airport, major hospitals, and educational institutions in Imphal.
READ: From Protest to Dialogue: KZC Ready for Talks with Manipur CM
Sources said the Chief Minister will also urge the KZC to help create a conducive atmosphere for the resettlement of IDPs, an issue on which the Kuki-Zo community has remained firm. Kuki-Zo groups have consistently maintained that their people cannot safely return to Imphal Valley areas. At the same time, they have opposed any move to allow Meitei residents to resettle in tribal hill districts.
Given the deep distrust and hardened positions on both sides, a major concession from the KZC appears unlikely. A breakthrough, therefore, remains improbable. Even so, the Chief Minister seems to be aiming for something more limited but politically significant: projecting an image of reconciliation in the hope of softening the bitter hostility that has effectively divided Manipur since the ethnic violence of May 3, 2023, which claimed over 260 lives and displaced thousands.
A letter issued by the Office of the Chief Minister on March 17 invited KZC chairman Henlianthang Thanglet and other council leaders for talks in Guwahati on March 21. Though administrative in form, the move is politically significant, marking a cautious attempt by the new state government to open direct communication with one of the most influential Kuki-Zo civil bodies.
The proposed meeting, convened to discuss “bringing back peace and normalcy in Manipur,” comes at a sensitive moment. The BJP-led government under Khemchand Singh took office in February 2026 after a period of President’s Rule, inheriting a deeply polarised state where ethnic mistrust has hardened into political and geographic separation.
The KZC, despite having strongly opposed the participation of Kuki-Zo MLAs in the new government, has decided to accept the invitation. That decision signals a tactical shift, though not necessarily a dilution of its larger political position.
