No buffer zones, but lines drawn up : Politics of words and more
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 14, 2026 -

Rehashed script. With nothing much to show at the ground.

It was this, but nonetheless significant to note that Governor AK Bhalla has verbally given it to the COCOMI that there are no buffer zones in the State and this is a take off from the statement made by the State police on X sometime in May 2024 which proclaimed 'there is no existence of buffer zones as such'.

The claim of the State police was given on the ground that, and The Sangai Express quotes, 'There has been circulation of certain media articles reporting existence of buffer zones in between some inter-district areas of Hill and Valley Districts of Manipur.

It is to clarify that there is no existence of buffer zones as such. However, security forces are deployed in some fringe, vulnerable and sensitive areas of districts to prevent unwanted incidents and movement' of miscreants.'

This was the line maintained by the State police and now verbally backed by the Governor himself but the crucial point is the 'no buffer zones' line does not mean free movement.

Give it any term, but the fact remains that no Meitei 'would be allowed' to travel across areas inhabited by the Kuki-Chin-Zo community and no Kuki-Chin-Zo people 'would be allowed' to come down to Imphal and the other Meitei dominated districts.

This is the crux point and something which should not be swept away by the 'no buffer zones' proclamation:

Not that this would have blown over the consciousness of Lok Bhavan or the people calling the shots in the PR administration, but what is disturbing is to note the seeming lack of any tangible initiatives to ensure the free movement of everyone.

What are the steps that have been taken up so far?

Not so long after President's Rule was imposed on February 13, 2025, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced free movement on the National Highways from March 8, but everyone now knows what happened on the said date.

Delhi just kept silent on the manner in which the free movement call of the Union Home Minister was nipped in the bud, and The Sangai Express has already commented many times on the half cooked approach adopted by the PR administration as well as the security agencies to ensure free movement of all.

Now nearly after one year since March 8, 2025, what steps has the Government taken up to ensure the free movement of all?

And the free movement should be understood not only within the ambit of opening the National Highways to the Meiteis but should also encompass the right of the Kuki-Chin-Zo people to use the Imphal International Airport.

These are the areas which should be given the top priority by the PR administration if Manipur is to come anywhere near the understanding of normalcy.

The question of buffer zone would become irrelevant once free movement and resettlement of the displaced folks become a reality.

This is where the attention of Delhi and Lok Bhavan should be on.

Announced to the public that there are no buffer zones, not via any notification on the newspapers or local TV channels, but on X in 2024 and verbally followed up by the Governor in 2025, that too when pressed, and at the same time stopping a person not less than a Member of Parliament from proceeding beyond a certain point and the 'politics of words' is obvious.

It is on the basis of this 'politics of words' that a number of Kuki-Zo organisations such as the Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), Kuki-Zo Council (KZC), Kuki Inpi, Manipur have been continuously using the 'buffer zone' slogan to justify a stand or two.

Delhi and Lok Bhavan must understand why hundreds took to the streets of Imphal on January 12 and while there may not be anything officially declared as buffer zones, it stands that there are lines which have been drawn up forbidding anyone from either side of the clash divide to cross over.

The security compulsion behind coming up with such an arrangement may be understood, but it says something significant that even after nearly a year of PR being imposed, Manipur is not anywhere near the understanding of normalcy.

Significant to note too that it is not the media which made the term 'buffer zones' go viral but the Kuki-Zo organisations and in nearly three years, the Govt did nothing to dispel this, save for a statement on X.

What stopped the Government from coming out with an official statement through the traditional media on this?