Abrogate SoO, update NRC: PAPPM
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, May 02 2025: The People's Alliance for Peace and Progress, Manipur (PAPPM) has urged the Government to conduct a Nationwide update of the National Register of Citizens, terminate the Suspension of Operations (SoO) pact with Kuki militant groups, and crack down on illegal poppy plantations and drug cartels.

Additionally, PAPPM demanded a Statewide policy to prevent encroachments, protect ecologically sensitive zones, and ensure Constitutional rights for all indigenous communities, including the right to settle and own land across Manipur.

PAPPM, in a statement, said that the conflict currently affecting Manipur is not an ethnic strife between the Meitei and Kuki communities as is often portrayed.

"The real battle is against the destructive forces of illegal drug trade, poppy cultivation, deforestation and illegal immigration which continue to pose grave threats to peace, prosperity and environment of Manipur," it asserted.

PAPPM claimed that the unrest stems from root causes such as the drug menace, rampant poppy cultivation, deforestation, and illegal immigration, which have led to demographic changes.

The Alliance argued that the violence that erupted on May 3, 2023, was not a spontaneous ethnic conflict, but rather the result of a deliberate strategy aimed at undermining efforts to combat drugs, deforestation, and illegal immigration.

Stating that the current crisis should be understood in the context of a decades-long movement by Manipur's indigenous people, particularly the Meitei community, seeking Constitutional and legal protection from demographic and economic marginalization, PAPPM noted that the demand for implementing the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system arose as illegal immigration, especially from Myanmar, began to alter the ethnic landscape of Manipur's hills and border regions.

Regarding the SoO pact, PAPPM alleged that Kuki militants didn't emerge as traditional insurgents but rather as armed village guards.

However, under the SoO framework, these villagelevel armed groups were elevated to the status of organized militant outfits, gaining quasi-political recognition and operational legitimacy, it said.

PAPPM alleged that the SoO agreement, instead of reducing violence, enabled these groups to consolidate arms, influence, and parallel administrative control in many hill districts, allowing them to pursue sectarian goals.

Moreover, the misuse of SoO has set a dangerous precedent, fostering militancy devoid of ideology, driven by protection of illicit economies, particularly the drug trade and poppy cultivation, it claimed and urged the Government to review and terminate the SoO pact.

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