Imphal Times of 17 April carried the headline: “CM Khemchand calls for dialogue, peace during emotional visit to various villages of Ukhrul District.” The Chief Minister was on a trust building mission in a bid to bring peace between Nagas and Kukis. He called for a dialogue as a way of bringing peace. He of course did not spell out what that dialogue would entail.

The Chief Minister was visiting Ukhrul, home to the Tangkhul Nagas in the aftermath of the latest spurt of violence in which, for the first time since the violence erupted in May 2023, the Nagas are being systematically targeted making an already volatile situation even more violent.

Media tends to forget that that there are more than 12 Naga tribes living in Manipur and some of these communities live across the international border into Myanmar.

What are the causes of this new dimension of violence in which the Nagas have become a party?  We cannot expect the Government, either the State or the Centre to present us with facts.  Commission of Enquiry which is supposed to go into causes of the 2023 has still not submitted its report; its date of submission has been further extended to May 2026.

The violence in Manipur continues unabated.  This time the victims include Nagas, who had remained neutral during the Meitei-Kuki conflict of May 2023.  Although there were incidents in which the Nagas were targeted, the Nagas kept away although they did provide shelter to fleeing Kuki families.

Kuki–Naga violence in Ukhrul began in early February 2026, with an assault on a Tangkhul Naga man at Litan by a group identified as Kuki‑Zo triggered clashes, stone‑pelting, gunfire and the burning of around twenty houses mostly belonging to Naga villagers in the Litan–Sareikhong area.

The state-imposed curfew and a five‑day internet shutdown, and deployed Army and Assam Rifles and other forces, with reports of flag marches and area domination to prevent further escalation. However, this had little effect of bringing normalcy.

Then came news of the abduction of 21 Tangkhul Naga civilians, 16 were men and five women on Wednesday, 11 March 2026.

The individuals were detained by armed men and villagers from the Kuki community while travelling along the Imphal–Ukhrul road.  The abduction took place at Shangkai village, a Kuki dominated village in Ukhrul  district along National Highway 202. After intense negotiations the people were released but it was reported that their vehicles (an Alto and a Baleno), mobile phones, and cash totalling over Rs 8.5 lakh were reportedly looted or held. 

It was also reported that shortly after the release of the 21 civilians, the bodies of the two missing Kuki men were found in a forested area, which led to further ethnic tensions.

The Tangkhul civil bodies have framed the 8 February incident and subsequent abductions of Nagas as “calculated aggression” against Tangkhul Nagas, explicitly accusing “Kuki militants” of targeting Nagas in Ukhrul and elsewhere. It is important to see these individual incidents in context of past grievances. First, it should be remembered that more than ten different Naga tribes have been living in Manipur spread over several districts of the State.

This article focuses on the recent attacks on Tangkhul Nagas living in Ukhrul District. This is the tribe to which Th Muivah, the General Secretary of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (I-M) belongs and Ukhrul has been the stronghold of the insurgency led by the NSCN (IM) which signed a ceasefire agreement with the Government in 1997. However, the peace talks which began in........

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