Manipur Violence: Kuki-Naga Clashes and the Work of Peace

The Lift Line

“Restoring the freedom of movement and making it possible for people to live safely alongside one another will have to be step one in a long process of reconciliation.” (The Indian Express, editorial)

Why This Editorial Matters for Your Exam

This unsigned editorial in The Indian Express, “In Manipur, the work of peace is still to be done”, published on 14 October 2026, reads the latest killings in Manipur’s hill districts as a sign of the state government’s “incapacity to heal or contain schisms in the state”. It matters for the exam in two ways. The conflict has changed shape: the violence that broke out in May 2023 was between Meiteis and Kukis, while the clashes of 2026 are between the Kuki and Naga communities. And it tests the tools the state has tried so far: President’s Rule, an elected government with a Kuki and a Naga Deputy Chief Minister, and appeals to surrender arms.

Our earlier deep dive on the lapsed Suspension of Operations pact covers the Centre’s ceasefire arrangement with Kuki-Zo groups. This piece covers the Kuki-Naga violence and the editorial’s case for what must come first.

GS Paper 3: internal security, and the role of non-state actors in creating challenges to it. GS Paper 2: the federal structure and Centre-State relations, including President’s Rule under Article 356. Essay: peace, identity and the authority of the state.

In the news: in an editorial published on 14 October 2026, The Indian Express argues that peace in Manipur is “still to be done”. The context: violence between armed groups of the Kuki and Naga communities began on the night of 9 October 2026 in Manipur’s hill districts and went on into the next day; reports put the toll at nine to eleven. On 10 October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh in New Delhi and assured “all possible assistance”.

Background and Context

Key terms first

What happened on 9 and 10 October 2026

The road from May 2023

Get the words right. The editorial says “the N Biren Singh government was dissolved in February 2025”. The record is different: the Chief Minister resigned, President’s Rule followed under Article 356, and the Assembly was kept in suspended animation, not dissolved. In an answer, write “resigned” and “suspended animation”.

The Analysis

1. The fault lines now overlap. The violence of 2023 set Meiteis against Kukis. In 2026, the editorial writes, “the old Kuki-Naga fault line that fuelled bloodshed in the 1990s has been reopened”, and “The Meiteis, Kukis and Nagas are now caught in overlapping conflicts”. A peace plan built for one conflict will not settle the other: the Kuki-Naga clashes are in the hills, between communities that were not the two sides of 2023. “Since February, dozens of people from both communities have been killed and houses torched.” Local accounts reported by IANS put the number above 40.

2. President’s Rule calmed, but did not heal. When the Chief Minister resigned in February 2025 and President’s Rule followed, the hope, the editorial writes, was for “an administration seen to be less partisan to stabilise the situation”. Its verdict: “while large-scale violent clashes declined, normalcy remained elusive”, and the divides that had taken hold since May 2023 persisted. For background, President’s Rule lasted from 13 February 2025 to 4 February 2026, almost a year.

3. Representation is necessary, not sufficient. Yumnam Khemchand Singh, “a Meitei like his predecessor” in the editorial’s words, became Chief Minister with a Kuki and a Naga Deputy Chief Minister. That “gave hope that political representation would pave the way for a lasting settlement”. The clashes since February show that sharing office at the top has not, by itself, changed relations on the ground in the hill districts.

4. Appeals have not disarmed anyone. The weapons are the core problem. The editorial says thousands of firearms “have been looted from state armouries since the conflict began” (it gives no single figure). Two appeals for voluntary surrender, the Governor’s seven-day appeal soon after President’s Rule and the Chief Minister’s 15-day ultimatum in August 2026, have not ended the shooting: “The continued prevalence of gun violence suggests that such appeals have not worked.” For scale, the state’s Director General of Police said in August that “during the period from February to August, 2026, 1422 firearms, over 7000 rounds of ammunitions and 1137 explosives have been recovered”. Neither the editorial nor the reports give a count of weapons surrendered under the two appeals.

5. Civilians pay twice. The editorial notes civilians “bearing the brunt not only of the violence but also of blockades across the hill districts that restrict access to essential supplies”. Blockades in the hills, reported from June to September 2026, are a second front: they turn an armed conflict into an economic siege of villages and towns.

6. The editorial’s sequence. First, demilitarise: a return to normalcy, it argues, needs “a concerted effort, first, to demilitarise society” and to re-establish the state’s authority. “Disarming armed groups and punishing those responsible for the killings must be an immediate priority.” Second, the government “must also create the conditions for sustained dialogue”. Third, and as the first step of reconciliation, restore freedom of movement so that people can “live safely alongside one another”.

7. What to add in an answer. The editorial does not discuss two levers. One is the Centre’s ceasefire arrangement with Kuki armed groups. For context, our earlier deep dive reported, citing The Hindu, that the SoO pact expired on 4 September 2026 and, according to government sources, is held in abeyance until the groups surrender all weapons, which ties it directly to the editorial’s call for disarmament. The other is constitutional: Article 371C provides for a Hill Areas Committee of the Assembly and for the Governor’s reports on the administration of the Hill Areas, a channel through which the hill districts’ concerns can be heard inside the system.

Data and Institutions Vault

Prelims-grade facts:

• Article 356: President’s Rule, on the Governor’s report “or otherwise”.
• Under Article 356: the President may assume the functions of the State Government; the Legislature’s powers become exercisable by or under the authority of Parliament.
• Manipur, President’s Rule: imposed on 13 February 2025, after Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned.
• President’s Rule revoked: on 4 February 2026, by a Ministry of Home Affairs notification.
• Suspended animation: Manipur’s Assembly was not dissolved; its tenure runs till March 2027.
• Sworn in on 4 February 2026: Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh (BJP); oath administered by Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla.
• Deputy Chief Ministers sworn in on 4 February 2026: Nemcha Kipgen (BJP) and Losii Dikho (Naga People’s Front).
• Article 371C: special provision for Manipur; a committee of the Assembly of members elected from the Hill Areas.
• Article 371C, the Governor: reports to the President on the administration of the Hill Areas.
• Article 371C, origin: inserted by the Constitution (Twenty-seventh Amendment) Act, 1971, with effect from 15 February 1972.
• Districts of the 9 and 10 October violence (news reports): Kamjong, Kangpokpi and Ukhrul.
• BNSS Section 163: the order used in Kamjong to prohibit the assembly of five or more people.

⚠️ Watch the trap: The Biren Singh government was not “dissolved”; the Chief Minister resigned and the Assembly was kept in suspended animation under President’s Rule. The editorial lists Senapati; the news reports of 10 and 11 October name Kamjong, Kangpokpi and Ukhrul and do not name Senapati for those two days. There is no single final toll: reports say nine, ten and eleven. The Prime Minister met the Chief Minister in New Delhi; it was not a visit to Manipur. The 2026 clashes are Kuki-Naga; the 2023 violence was Meitei-Kuki.

The Debate

How to Think About This

Picture Manipur as three communities and three relationships: Meitei-Kuki, which broke in May 2023; Kuki-Naga, an old fault line reopened in 2026; and the state’s relationship with all armed groups, which decides whether any settlement holds. The editorial’s point is that the third relationship comes first. Until the state has a monopoly on force, no talks between communities can be safe.

Then read the editorial as a sequence, not a list: disarm and punish, then dialogue, then free movement and reconciliation. In a Mains answer, that order is your structure. In an interview, be ready to explain how a district administration builds trust with two communities at once, and why being seen as fair matters as much as being strong.

Diagram-in-Words

Takeaway Box

• The argument: the Kuki-Naga violence shows the state government’s “incapacity to heal or contain schisms in the state”; calm is fragile more than three years after May 2023.
• The event: violence that began on the night of 9 October 2026 in Kamjong, Kangpokpi and Ukhrul; reports put the toll at nine to eleven.
• The record: President’s Rule from 13 February 2025 to 4 February 2026; the Assembly kept in suspended animation; Yumnam Khemchand Singh’s government with a Kuki and a Naga Deputy Chief Minister.
• What has not worked: appeals to surrender arms in February 2025 and August 2026, in the editorial’s reading.
• The sequence: disarm armed groups and punish the killers; create conditions for dialogue; restore freedom of movement as step one of reconciliation.

Revision Flowchart

Sources: The Indian Express, “In Manipur, the work of peace is still to be done”; All India Radio, President’s rule imposed in Manipur; All India Radio, President’s Rule revoked in Manipur; IANS via The Morung Express; UNI; EastMojo; Northeast Now; PTI via Onmanorama; Constitution of India, Articles 356 and 371C.

Source: Manipur Violence: Kuki-Naga Clashes and the Work of Peace — Ujiyari.com | Free UPSC & State PCS Editorial Analysis