Social media and political voices call for high-level intervention, warning that the order risks endangering the life of the suspended engineer in Thoubal.
BY PC Bureau
October 7, 2025: The Kuki-Zo community in Manipur has erupted in anger after the state Governor extended the suspension of Assistant Engineer Henkholen Haokip and ordered his confinement to Thoubal district — a Meitei-majority enclave in the Imphal Valley. Critics describe the move as administrative overreach and ethnic persecution, raising fears of renewed communal tensions in the state.
Issued on October 6, 2025, by the Governor’s Secretariat in the Water Resources Department, the order prolongs Haokip’s suspension by 180 days, effective October 7. It stipulates that Haokip must remain at Thoubal as his “headquarters” and cannot leave without prior permission from authorities. While he continues to receive subsistence allowance, Kuki-Zo voices have slammed the geographic restriction as punitive.
“This is not governance – it’s persecution,” said Kim Haokip, spokesperson of the Kuki-Zo Women Forum, Delhi, in a post on X. Tagging the Governor’s office and national authorities, she wrote: “Extending Henkholen Haokip’s suspension and restricting him to Thoubal is not governance—it’s persecution. Stop making Kuki-Zo officers scapegoats to please Meitei extremists. Are we waiting to see another episode of Meitei mob-lynching in #Manipur?”
READ: Naga Civil Bodies Condemn Manipur’s Land Order as Unconstitutional
@BhallaAjay26
@manipurgovernor extending Henkholen Haokip’s suspension and restricting him to Thoubal is not governance (Meitei’s district) — it’s persecution. Stop making Kuki_Zo officers scapegoats to please Meitei extremists.
Are we waiting to see another episode of meitei… pic.twitter.com/FRs48ZLeAs— 𝗞𝗶𝗺 𝗛𝗮𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗽 (@haokipkim128) October 7, 2025
Retired bureaucrat Lalam Hangshing, a senior leader of the Kuki People’s Alliance, also condemned the order: “I have no issues with the departmental proceedings. The problem lies in the tyrannical way of restricting him to a Meitei-dominated district—the worst racist district next to Bishnupur!”
The Governor’s decision comes while Manipur remains under President’s Rule, extended for six months from August 13, 2025, amid ongoing ethnic strife that has claimed over 250 lives since May 2023.
A Suspension Rooted in Ethnic Turmoil
Haokip’s ordeal traces back to the 2023 ethnic clashes, sparked by Meitei demands for Scheduled Tribe status, which clashed with Kuki-Zo concerns over land and demographic shifts. Suspended initially in October 2023 under Rule 10(6) of the Central Civil Services Rules, Haokip’s suspension has been repeatedly extended: 90 days in January 2024, 180 days in April 2024, and now another 180 days.
The latest order, signed digitally by Deputy Secretary Md. Ismat Khan, cites ongoing inquiry, but the stipulation confining Haokip to Thoubal — historically a flashpoint in valley-hills tensions — has sparked accusations of bias.
Thoubal, with a population of over 422,000 (2011 Census), hosts 10 assembly constituencies and remains a sensitive site in the valley-hills divide. For Kuki-Zo residents from hill districts, the order evokes memories of the 2023 pogroms, when over 60 churches and thousands of homes were destroyed.
Voices of Condemnation: From Social Media to Political Circles
Despite representations from MLAs and CSOs, no center of examination allocated to Kuki and Naga areas, with candidates from Kuki areas forced to travel with enormous expense to Guwahati even under PR. @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/yaLaZmsqW2
— Paolienlal Haokip (@paolienlal) October 6, 2025
The backlash has been loud and widespread. Paolienlal Haokip, BJP MLA from Manipur’s hill districts, reposted the order with concern: “What kind of order is this? The circumstances of his suspension are clearly communal, and the PR administration still extends his suspension and requires him to be present in Thoubal HQ? Relief or death sentence?”
READ: Gogoi Slams Assam CM for Politicising Zubeen Garg’s Death
