COCOMI demands clarification on 'buffer zone' claims
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 18 2025: In the wake of the indiscriminate firing and bombing carried out by militants in Torbung area, Bishnupur district on December 16 night, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) has lodged a complaint with the Director General of Police (DGP) seeking an official clarification on 'buffer zone' claims.

The complaint signed by COCOMI Convenor Khuraijam Athouba pointed out the Kuki-Zo Council and other actors have been frequently claiming that a "buffer zone" is being created by the State security and administration as a protective or territorial partition measure.

COCOMI demands clarification on 'buffer zone' claims

This term has been widely used in public discourse, but its repeated invocation - without clear factual basis or Government confirmation - has fuelled confusion, fear, and animosity among the people.

While certain arrangements involving security deployment and restricted zones have been discussed in past conflict management contexts, public claims about a formally sanctioned or distinct "buffer zone" with territorial implications remain unverified and have the potential to provoke misunderstanding and escalation, it said.

Saying that continued misuse of such a sensitive term could inflame communal sentiments, falsely suggesting an institutional sanction for territorial segregation or disintegration of the State, COCOMI has urged the State administration to clarify officially and publicly whether any such "buffer zone" exists as a formal policy or administrative measure.

If yes, please explain to the people.

If no, appropriate legal action must be initiated against those who have been misusing this term in ways that could provoke larger sections of the population and deepen divisions within the State, it asserted.

The complaint also pointed out that the December 16, 2025 attack caused widespread terror and fear; posed a direct and imminent threat to life and property and clearly demonstrated organised, pre-meditated and militarised intent.

The attack was part of a continuing pattern of armed aggression in the region that exposes persistent security failures and the inability to neutralise armed groups operating with impunity, it said.

The gravity of the incident was deepened by a public statement attributed to Mr Ginza Vualzong, a senior leader of the Kuki-Zo Council, who justified and rationalised the firing and bombing; made unsubstantiated and inflammatory alle- gations to deflect responsibility; and issued provo- cative, anti-peace statements likely to incite further violence.

Such public justification and moral endorsement of armed violence crosses the threshold between protected speech and criminal incitement or abetment, embolde- ning armed groups and undermining the authority of the State, it pointed out.

Through the complaint lodged with the DGP, COCOMI placed on record its serious concerns that armed groups continue to operate without effective deterrence; organisational leaders publicly justify violence; misleading public claims about "buffer zones" are circulating unchecked; and absence of swift, transparent action has created a perception of selective enforcement and impunity.

COCOMI has also demanded that responsibility be fixed upon the armed perpetrators involved in the Torbung attack; organisations and leaders who justify, incite or provide ideological cover to violence, including the Kuki-Zo Council and Mr Ginza Vualzong; individuals or bodies responsible for spreading unverified and incendiary claims about "buffer zones"; and the concerned authorities, if lapses or omissions are found in preventing foreseeable violence or countering misinformation.

Through the complaint lodged on December 18, 2025, COCOMI requested the DGP for immediate registration of FIRs; transfer of investigation to a senior-level or special investigation team; legal action against public incitement and justification of terror, without fear or favour; official clarification and public communication regarding "buffer zone" claims; immediate security reinforcement and domination of vulnerable areas including Torbung; and its proximity areas in range from where attacks could be carried out again and a time-bound action taken report to restore public confidence.

The continued normalisation of armed violence, its public justification, and the spread of incendiary misinformation poses an existential threat to peace, constitutional order, and civilian safety in Manipur, it said.

It added that silence or inaction will only embolden further violence and deepen societal fractures.