UNC writes to UN to halt exchange of border areas
Source: The Sangai Express
Senapati, July 24 2026:
The United Naga Council (UNC) has written to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) on structural complicity in transnational narcoterrorism, unilateral boundary alteration, and extrajudicial executions targeting indigenous Nagas in violation of UNDRIP and the ICCPR.
Through a memorandum, the UNC has requested the Special Procedures Mandate Holders to issue an urgent appeal to the Government of India to immediately halt the secret, unilateral border exchange of 1.4 square miles in Chandel/Kabaw Valley and halt any re-demarcation activities in the Choro Khunou sector until free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) is secured via traditional indigenous institutions.
The UNC has also requested for deployment of an independent UN team under the Minnesota Protocol to investigate the structural link between the $3.22 billion frontier fencing project, the May 7 cross-border military incursions, and the May 13 extrajudicial executions.
The Naga civil organisation has appealed to the UN to compel the State (Government of India) to respect the August 3, 2015 Indo-Naga Framework Agreement, ensuring that no international border adjustments with Myanmar are bartered at the expense of "sovereign, ancestral Naga territories" .
It further asked the UN to urge the Government of India to ensure a prompt, impartial, independent, and effective investigation into the Leilon abduction, extrajudicial killings, and dismemberment of six indigenous Naga men, consistent with its obligations under international human rights law.
The UNC maintained that all persons responsible, including perpetrators, collaborators, and those who aided or facilitated these crimes, be identified, prosecuted, and held accountable through due process, and that effective remedies and justice be secured for the victims, their families, and the affected indigenous communities.
Investigative reporting via leaked State documents dated May 26, 2026, revealed that the Ministry of External Affairs and the Foreign Secretary are actively finalizing an expedited, three-month timeline to unilaterally surrender 1.4 square miles of indigenous territory in Chandel district to the military junta of Myanmar, it said.
The UNC said that this structural cartographic aggression is being driven by an expedited $3.22 billion border-fencing project.
The State has deliberately catalogued historically sensitive border sectors - specifically Choro Khunou (Border Pillars 88-95), Molcham (64-68), and Moreh (75-79) - as arbitrary "unresolved pillars," creating a legal vacuum to facilitate territorial transfers and border adjustments without transparency or tribal consultation, it said.
It also highlighted the abduction of 18 Naga civilians and the subsequent murder of six of them after they were transferred to the KNF-P, an armed entity formally insulated from military operations under the State's active SoO agreement.
The memorandum said that a heavily armed force of approximately 100 uniform cadres of the Myanmar-based Kuki National Army-Burma (KNA-B) launched a coordinated heavy-weapons assault directly targeting the indigenous Naga border villages of Z Choro, Namlee-Wanglee and Kaka on May 7, 2026 .
The KNF-P/UPF network legally implicated in the abductions and dismemberment of Naga hostages is commanded by ST Thangboi Kipgen.
He (ST Thangboi Kipgen) is the spouse of Nemcha Kipgen, the sitting Deputy Chief Minister of Manipur.
The perpetration of these crimes within her political constituency creates an insurmountable structural conflict of interest, placing State investigative bodies under extreme political duress, the UNC said.
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