New Delhi: More than a week after a hostage crisis erupted between Kuki and Naga communities in Manipur, 20 of the 44 people taken captive remain unaccounted for, with daily negotiations failing to break the deadlock, security establishment sources told ThePrint.
Of those still missing, 14 Kukis are being held by Nagas, sources said Thursday. Six Nagas are either still with the Kukis or untraced. Both the communities dispute the other’s accounts.
“The negotiations are on. After sustained efforts and several rounds of mediation and negotiations, many people were released by both communities, but still 20 people are left and the dialogue is on,” a source said.
Church leaders, community representatives and security forces personnel have been holding daily meetings to broker a resolution. “Members from both communities, church leaders, representatives from the security forces, all are on the job and have been holding meetings on a daily basis. Yes, the situation remains tense, but everything possible is being done to avoid any further clash,” the source added.
The six missing Nagas
The dispute over the six Nagas lies at the heart of the continuing standoff.
The United Naga Council (UNC), a community body, says 18 of its people were taken by Kukis, of whom 12—including the wives of three detained couples—were released. Their husbands are among the missing six.
“Out of the 18 Nagas who were abducted by the Kukis, there were three couples. While 12 people, including the wives in those couples, have been released, their husbands are among the six people who are still missing. We fear that they have been killed and that their bodies are in the possession of the Kuki National Front,” said A.C. Thotso, UNC working committee secretary.
Kukis deny holding anyone beyond those already freed, saying they have no knowledge of any more individuals other than the 14 Nagas they released on 15 May.
Thotso said Naga volunteers had “detained” the 14 Kukis and would release them only once the six missing Nagas were accounted for. He said the state government and police had held multiple rounds of talks with both communities without result, and accused the police of going through the motions.
“We are extremely disappointed with the response of the police and the state. The police have been doing the drama to pretend to be doing search operations but that has not yielded any results. Our people were abducted by the Kukis in a high security area but there is no accountability,” he said.
The security source quoted above confirmed that efforts to trace the six were continuing. “Efforts to trace them are on,” the source said.
The Kuki account
Lun Kipgen, spokesperson for the Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), a Kuki-Zo community body, said the 14 detained Kukis should not be used as a bargaining chip, and argued that Kuki grievances were not receiving comparable attention.
“In the last week of September, entire Kuki villages in Ukhrul were allegedly set ablaze by Tangkhuls, displacing hundreds of Kukis. Then, during the last hostage crisis, two Kuki individuals who had gone to repair village waterways went missing. Subsequently, 21 Nagas were detained by Kuki village volunteers. However, after the 21 Naga detainees were released, the two missing Kukis were found dead,” Kipgen alleged.
He pointed to deepening fractures within Naga groups.
“Four cadres of the Naga Eastern Flank were allegedly killed by the NSCN-IM in Ukhrul, and tensions remain high among Naga underground groups, with Kukis being blamed. Two Nagas were also killed in T Kasom in Ukhrul, after which Tangkhul groups allegedly called on other Naga tribes to unite against the Kukis. All of this needs to be seen in perspective. We are not against the Nagas,” he said.
The Naga Eastern Flank is a regional military command of the insurgency group, National Socialist Council of Nagalim-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM). Tangkhul refers to a Naga tribe.
Kipgen added that the police had yet to identify those responsible for the ambush that killed three church leaders and their driver last week—a failure he called “extremely disappointing and not at all reassuring”.
The current hostage crisis unfolded after three Kuki church leaders from the Thadou Baptist Association (TBA) and their driver were killed when their vehicle was ambushed between Kotlen and Kotzim villages in Kangpokpi district along the Imphal–Tamenglong highway in the northeastern state. The group was returning after attending a TBA conference in Churachandpur when suspected Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF), a Naga insurgent group, opened fire. No arrests have been made as yet in the case.
Over the past three months, clashes between Kuki and Naga communities have intensified, with both sides reporting hostage situations, arson attacks and assaults.
Manipur has been ensnared in ethnic violence since 2023, when clashes between communities broke out in the state. Though the initial clashes were between Hindu-Meiteis and Christian Kuki-Zos, they evolved to envelop almost every other community in the state. Hundreds have been killed since and thousands displaced.
(Edited by Prerna Madan)
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