SoO extension peeves TIM
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 04 2025: The Thadou Inpi Manipur (TIM) has expressed disappointment over the Government of India's decision to extend the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with Kuki militant groups, effective immediately.

The decision was taken without consulting TIM, despite the organization submitting a 35-page memorandum to the Government on August 31, 2025, outlining its concerns and urging the agreement's abrogation, said a press release issued by TIM's joint general secretary Manggou Thadou.

Now that the SoO extension is in effect, TIM urged the Government to take immediate and critical steps to ensure accountability and security.

Key leaders of the signatory militant groups must be provided with Government-arranged Personal Security Officers (PSOs) to enable strict monitoring of their movements and activities, a crucial measure to prevent further violence and impunity, TIM urged.

Further demanding that the movement and activities of these leaders and their cadres be severely restricted, TIM said that under no circumstances should they have access to arms.

Furthermore, the Government must establish a clear, effective, and time-bound plan for the rehabilitation of these cadres.

They should either be provided with sustainable livelihood training within the community or be inducted into Government security forces, provided they meet the requirements, TIM said, emphasising that this concrete step is vital to ensuring that the SoO agreement achieves its stated goal of long-term peace and stability, rather than perpetuating a cycle of violence.

Without strict accountability, the protection of Thadou human rights remains at risk, it said and alleged that the Kuki SoO militants cadres committing crimes and leaders later disowning them, as seen in the recent murder of a Thadou leader in Assam by Kuki SoO groups, only serves to deepen impunity and perpetuate violence.

Saying that they consistently advocated for the termination of the SoO agreement as the pact fostered a climate of lawlessness and insecurity, disproportionately affecting unarmed Thadou people, TIM added that this extension is particularly egregious, coming just days after the brutal killing of Thadou peace and rights advocate Nehkam Jomhao, chairman of the Thadou Literature Society, in Assam.

It further stated that the heinous act carried out by Kuki SoO militants, two of whom are from Manipur, reveals a disturbing truth that SoO cadres can move freely and with impunity across State and international borders to commit acts of terror.

The SoO agreement has failed to contain the Kuki militant groups and ensure the safety of citizens, it said and maintained that the Government has regrettably failed to differentiate between ethnic identity and political ideology by legitimizing these militant groups and leaving the Thadou community vulnerable to continued persecution.

Two key demands of TIM, the complete abrogation of the SoO agreement or the inclusion of a human rights protection clause for the Thadou community were ignored and it demonstrates a clear disregard for the Thadou people's concerns and a fundamental misunderstanding of the conflict dynamics, TIM added.

The SoO extension demonstrates that these Kuki groups have effectively abandoned their separatist ideology, TIM said and maintained that this will expose the crucial distinction between "Kuki" as a political ideology and an ethnic identity.

"This move will reveal how the aspirations of many Thadou people, who have long been associated with the Kuki ideology, have been misrepresented and betrayed by Kuki organisations leaders," it said.

Noting that the Kuki-Zo Council (KZC) issued a press statement falsely claiming the SoO agreement includes a political dialogue for a separate administration within hours of the extension signing today, TIM sad that the claim of KZC is baseless, as no such provision is mentioned anywhere in the agreement.

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