UPSC Darpan

Internal SecurityGS33 October 2026

Centre holds Kuki-Zo truce in abeyance; Manipur pays kin of 49 missing

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The news

New Delhi and Guwahati. The Union Home Ministry has not extended the Suspension of Operations (SoO) pact with Kuki-Zo insurgent groups a month after the one-year agreement, signed on September 4, 2025 on “re-negotiated” terms, expired, The Hindu reports. Government sources say it is in abeyance until the groups surrender all weapons; an SoO member says not extending “does not mean it has been abrogated”. Meitei and Naga civil society groups, and Deputy Chief Minister Losii Dikho, want it scrapped. The Centre will send 30 more CRPF companies (about 3,000 personnel) and two CoBRA battalions (about 2,000). On October 1 the State Cabinet approved a one-time ₹10 lakh each for kin of 49 people missing since May 3, 2023, because the law presumes a missing person dead only after seven years. The conflict has killed 306 and displaced over 60,000.

The chain in one line: Kuki-Naga clashes of the 1990s → 2008 tripartite pact puts Kuki-Zo groups in camps → Meitei–Kuki violence from May 2023 brings valley demands to scrap it → renewal on new terms in September 2025 → expiry in September 2026 met with abeyance and more troops

Static syllabus linkage

  1. A Suspension of Operations pact is a truce, not a peace settlement. Under an SoO agreement, security forces suspend operations against an armed group whose cadres stay in designated camps with weapons in monitored storage, under agreed ground rules. Manipur’s pact, signed in 2008 by the Centre, the State and the Kuki National Organisation and United Peoples’ Front (24 groups in all), holds violence down while talks continue.
  2. The Constitution gives the Union a duty in Manipur and special arrangements for its hills. Article 355 makes it the Union’s duty to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure its government runs according to the Constitution. Article 371C provides for a Hill Areas Committee of Manipur’s Assembly and an annual Governor’s report to the President on the hill areas. The Sixth Schedule’s autonomous councils cover Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, not Manipur, a gap behind recurring hill demands.

Why UPSC loves this

  1. Insurgency management in the North-East is a standing GS3 theme. The syllabus asks about “security challenges and their management in border areas” and “linkages of organized crime with terrorism”. Truce pacts, AFSPA and Article 355 recur.

Prelims nuggets

  • Article 355 of the Constitution places on the Union the duty to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance.
  • Article 371C contains special provisions for Manipur, including a committee of the Legislative Assembly consisting of members elected from the Hill Areas.
  • The Sixth Schedule applies to tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram; Manipur is not covered.

Analysis

  1. Lens — Centre and States: the Union holds the levers while the State carries the politics. The pact, troops and talks are decided in New Delhi, while Manipur’s government is split, its Deputy Chief Minister demanding abrogation. Article 355 justifies central control, but a settlement the State does not own will not hold. The sound judgement: set the weapons condition jointly with the State, so ‘abeyance’ is a shared position local leaders cannot disown.
  2. Abeyance trades clarity for leverage, and the trade can backfire. Neither renewing nor ending the pact presses groups to disarm without pushing cadres back into the hills. But an SoO member says the interlocutor has not met them since April 30, so armed camps have neither rules nor talks. The counter-view: renewal without disarmament rewards groups when, per officials, weapons with civilians drive the killings. Abeyance works only if short and tied to a dialogue date.
  3. The missing need a legal route, not only a cash grant. Without death certificates or autopsy reports, families of the missing fall outside the central assistance scheme; the ₹10 lakh “humanitarian measure” fills that gap once. A durable answer is a special procedure to declare persons missing in the conflict, so property, pensions and inheritance are not frozen for seven years.

Possible Mains question

Truce agreements with insurgent groups can hold down violence without resolving the conflict. Critically examine with reference to the Suspension of Operations pact in Manipur. (15 marks, 250 words)

Model approach

  1. Directive — Critically examine. Weigh gains against costs and reach a judgement.
  2. Introduction — the 2008 tripartite pact has lapsed and is held in abeyance. 306 deaths since May 2023.
  3. The pact kept 24 groups in camps under ground rules for years. It bought time for talks.
  4. It froze arms and demands without a political settlement. Draw a timeline 2008 → 2023 → 2025 renewal → 2026 abeyance.
  5. Disarmament must come with talks and protection for civilians. Value addition: Article 355; 30 CRPF companies and two CoBRA battalions sent.
  6. Conclusion — a time-bound truce tied to disarmament and a political dialogue. Involve all communities.

Administrator's brainstorm

As Deputy Commissioner of a hill district with SoO camps, what do you do now that the pact is in abeyance?

I would keep camp inspections running so every weapon stays accounted for, and keep a channel open with camp leaders so cadres do not drift out. I would coordinate with the arriving central forces to avoid clashes near camps, and list the district’s missing persons so families receive the new assistance quickly.