Number of SoO cadres under KNO, UPF put at 2181
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 07 2024: Chief Minister N Biren Singh has stated that monthly inspection of cadres of Kuki militant groups under Suspension of Operation pact along with arms and ammunition is being conducted regularly by a team of Joint Monitoring Group.

To a query raised by Surjakumar Okram in today's sitting of the Assembly session, the Chief Minister continued that the last inspection of cadres of SoO groups was done on July 19, 2024 .

He added that the SoO pact was signed between Kuki National Organisation (KNO), United People's Front (UPF) and the representatives of both the Manipur and the Central Government on August 22, 2008 .

Number of SoO cadres under KNO, UPF put at 2181

KNO had 800 cadres and 11 groups at the time of signing the SoO pact while UPF had 1000 cadres, he said and added that KNO had 1122 cadres and 17 groups while UPF had 1059 cadres as per the report of the verification exercise done in 2013-2014 .

Altogether, KNO and UPF now have 2181 cadres.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister stated that the Government hasn't taken up any measure to disarm village volunteers other than simply appealing to them to surrender their weapons.

He was responding to a query raised by Congress MLA K Ranjit seeking the number of people taking up arms in both hill and valley districts to defend their villages and about the initiative being taken up to disarm them in today's session of the Assembly.

The Chief Minister said that the Government hasn't assessed the number of village volunteers as the crisis is still not over.

Saying that village volunteers came out to defend villages after seeing the situation in Churachandpur, Moreh and Kangpokpi, he added the village volunteers will never reveal that they are armed to the Government.

N Biren further said that there are certain things which cannot be disclosed as per the policy of the Home Department.

Security forces couldn't protect the lives and properties of people as the violence erupted unexpectedly, the Chief Minister said and added that additional security measures were taken up following the May 3 incident of last year.

Assuming that the violence broke out due to breakdown of law and order would be wrong, he claimed that an in-depth discussion is necessary to understand the factors which facilitated the unrest in Manipur, he said.

It will take time but the Government will do whatever it can to restore normalcy in Manipur as soon as possible, N Biren added.

To another query raised by K Meghachandra, the Chief Minister said that the Government deposited Rs 27.38 crore to bank accounts of the leaders of Kuki militant groups under SoO pact in 2021 .

The Chief Minister further said that the Central Government is now considering depositing the money in the account of the cadres of SoO groups directly.

Interestingly on March 10, 2023 the State Government had decided to withdraw from the SoO agreement with two groups, Kuki National Army (KNA) and Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA), alleging their involvement in inciting agitation among forest encroachers.