Kuki-Zos to hold rally to push for separate administration

The Kuki-Zo tribal people in ethic conflict-scarred Manipur are organising a mass rally on Wednesday (January 14, 2026) to seek a political solution from the Centre before the State completes a year under the President’s Rule.

The Central rule was imposed in Manipur on February 13, 2025, four days after Nongthombam Biren Singh resigned as the Chief Minister. There are speculations that an NDA government will be formed soon.

On Tuesday (January 13, 2026), the Kuki-Zo Council called upon the “entire Kuki-Zo general public” to participate in the rally to be held in all Kuki-Zo-dominated districts to fast-track “our political solution”.

“The Kuki-Zo people have endured grave and unprecedented atrocities – large-scale destruction of homes and places of worship, and the continued displacement of over 40,000 innocent people. In view of these realities, it has become impossible for the Kuki-Zo people to continue under the same administrative arrangement. Accordingly, the Kuki-Zo people have formally and democratically demanded a Union Territory with a Legislature from the Government of India,” the council stated in a statement.

The council rued the government’s inability to deliver a concrete political solution nearly three years after the ethnic conflict between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei people broke out on May 3, 2023.

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum will organise the rally in Churachandpur district. It requested all schools and institutions to remain closed on the day of the rally as a mark of solidarity.

Kuki-Zo organisations have been adamant about their Union Territory-like “separate administration” demand, first flagged by the MLAs from the community. Of the 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs, seven belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

As the Centre continues its efforts to form the government in the State, these 10 MLAs are under pressure not to join it. Most Kuki-Zo organisations are against their joining the government.

The MLAs, leaders of the Kuki-Zo Council, and representatives of the armed groups which signed the Suspension of Operations almost two decades ago, held a closed-door meeting in Guwahati on Tuesday to reiterate the Union Territory demand for the community.

After the meeting, they unanimously adopted a five-point resolution. These included pressing the Centre to expedite a political settlement to fulfil the demand of the Kuki-Zo community for a Union Territory with legislature and adequate constitutional provisions for the protection of land ownership.