Calling the operation the “third episode” of its anti-encroachment campaign, the armed Naga outfit warned refugees and displaced villagers to halt all “unlawful activities” or face action.
BY PC Bureau
November 17, 2025 – The Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF), an armed Naga outfit active in the hill areas of Manipur, on Monday carried out fresh operations in Waphong area of Kangpokpi district, burning down poppy farms and huts allegedly set up by “illegal immigrant intruders” on what it claims is ancestral Zeliangrong land.
In a press statement issued today by its “Ministry of Information & Publicity”, the ZUF described the action as the “third episode” of its ongoing drive to clear encroachments in the Waphong stretch of the Waphong-Kangchup Range, Sapermeina Subdivision.The outfit warned that all “unlawful activities” by refugees and alleged illegal settlers within Zeliangrong-Inpui ancestral territory must stop immediately. It specifically singled out:
- Running of Suspension of Operations (SoO) camps
- Creation of unauthorised new villages
- Imposition of illegal checkpoints on local communities
- Large-scale poppy cultivation
“Any violation of these warnings will not be tolerated,” the statement read, signed by Zeliangrong Ringteloul HOZAM.
The ZUF appealed to all indigenous Zeliangrong people to remain united and maintain “collective vigilance” to protect their land before the situation “escalates beyond control”.While no casualties were reported in today’s operation, the development is likely to heighten ethnic and land-related tensions in the already fragile hill districts of Manipur.State authorities and police officials in Kangpokpi district have not yet commented on the incident or the ZUF statement as of late Monday night.
The Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) is an armed Naga insurgent group formed in 2011, drawing support primarily from the Zeliangrong tribes—Zeme, Liangmai, and Rongmei—who inhabit parts of Tamenglong, Noney, Kangpokpi, and neighbouring areas of Assam and Nagaland. The outfit emerged after a section of Zeliangrong cadres broke away from the NSCN (IM), accusing the larger Naga organisation of marginalising Zeliangrong interests and failing to protect their ancestral land.
