𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗞𝗨𝗞𝗜 𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗞𝗜𝗘𝗦: 𝗔𝗡 𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗬 𝗦𝗢𝗢 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗧𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗔'𝗦 𝗦𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗞𝗨𝗞𝗜 𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗞𝗜𝗘𝗦: 𝗔𝗡 𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗬 𝗦𝗢𝗢 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗧𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗔’𝗦 𝗦𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘

By Markson V Luikham

On 19 May 2026, a statement was issued by the so-called “Village Volunteer Ukhrul Gamkai” that crossed a threshold from which there is no retreat. It warned that any passenger helicopter flying from Ukhrul to Imphal that passes through the airspace of Kuki-Zo villages “will be shot down.” It directed the chopper to “use the airspace of Tangkhul villages” and declared that drones spotted over Kuki areas would be met with the same fate, holding the originating village responsible for “retaliatory action”.[1] This is not a local grievance dressed up in threatening language. This is an armed non-state group claiming sovereign control over national airspace with the stroke of a letterhead, complete with a date, reference number, and official motto.

The Airspace Belongs to India, Not to Any Armed Mob

The Civil Aviation Act of 1949, read with the Aircraft Act of 1934, vests complete and exclusive sovereignty in the Government of India over the airspace above its territory. No private entity, no village council, and certainly no armed militia possesses the legal authority to declare a no-fly zone over any portion of Indian territory. The statement issued by VV Ukhrul Gamkai is, on its face, a criminal act under multiple statutes: Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (act endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India), Section 3 of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for threats against civilian aircraft, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

Yet no FIR appears to have been registered. No arrest has been reported. The helicopter service continues to operate under the shadow of a threat made by armed men who answer to no uniformed command. The skies over Manipur are Indian skies. When a non-state actor declares that those skies belong to them and that any aircraft violating their self-proclaimed jurisdiction will be shot down, the state has two choices: it can reassert its monopoly on force and prosecute those responsible, or it can, through inaction, concede that its sovereignty is now negotiable.

The Mockery of the Indian Army: A Well-Documented Pattern

This is not the first time Kuki militants have openly challenged the authority of the Indian state and its armed forces. It is a pattern, long documented and never adequately punished. Multiple video clips of Kuki militants “threatening and forcing Indian military troops to turn back from their operational duty have already gone viral in social media.”[2] Armed cadres have confronted Indian Army convoys, positioned weaponry including RPGs in front of troops, and spoken to uniformed soldiers with the confidence of men who know no consequence awaits them.

On 25 March 2026, armed Kuki militants opened fire on an Indian Army post in the Phouljang and Gothol areas, directing their fire towards an Indian Army post in Phougakchao Awang Leikai. A 30-minute gunfight ensued between the militants and Army and CRPF personnel. The militants attacked a military installation of the Indian state. As of all available reporting, no mass crackdown followed.[3]

In Moreh, the strategic border town, Kuki militants have established themselves in a manner that echoes the territorial claims now extended to the air. Videos of standoffs between the Assam Rifles and armed groups in Moreh have circulated widely, raising profound questions about how “a few armed men stopped the security forces from moving around in the town just a stone’s throw away from conflict-hit Myanmar.”[4] In one widely circulated video, a masked man openly mocked the Assam Rifles and the Indian Army, throwing air punches and doing push-ups in front of armed personnel while others laughed and recorded the act. The video sparked outrage but no visible crackdown.

The pattern extends further. On 11 January 2026, armed cadres of the Kuki National Front, operating under the UPF and purportedly bound by the SoO agreement, entered Ireng Naga village at 11:30 PM and vandalised public property. They defaced the village memorial stone by writing ‘Kukiland’ and ‘Stay Away.’ A KNF commander then contacted the village chairman and “issued explicit threats of open gunfire and burning down the entire village.” Later that same day, “30 to 40 heavily armed cadres were sighted advancing towards the village.” The FIR filed by the Ireng Naga Village Authority stated these acts “amount to criminal trespass, mischief, and deliberate ethnic intimidation.”[5]

The Naga civil society organisations have repeatedly stated what is now undeniable: the Indian state has armed and shielded Kuki narco-terrorists under the SoO agreement to wage war on the Naga people by proxy. The Kuki militants have responded to this protection not with restraint but with escalating audacity. From attacking army posts, to blocking national highways for months, to abducting civilians, to defacing village memorials with ‘Kukiland,’ and now to claiming sovereignty over the skies. Each escalation unpunished becomes the baseline for the next.

The Suspension of Operations Agreement: A Shield for Secessionist Ambition

The SoO agreement was signed on 22 August 2008 between the Government of India, the Manipur government, and approximately 25 Kuki militant groups under the KNO and UPF umbrella. It requires cadres to be confined to designated camps with weapons in locked storage. Approximately 14 designated SoO camps in Manipur house around 2,200 cadres.[6]

The reality is a mirror image. Cadres operate freely, recruit openly, and commit violence with impunity while drawing a monthly stipend of Rs 6,000 per cadre. The India Today investigation documented that “Kuki militant groups, far from adhering to the SoO’s ground rules, continue to recruit cadres, amass illegal arms, and engage in violent and criminal activities, all while receiving financial support and resources from the Indian government.” Kuki groups have “openly violated the ground rules” and yet the agreement has been renewed year after year.[7]

In March 2023, the Manipur government abrogated the SoO agreement with the Kuki National Army and the Zomi Revolutionary Army, citing repeated violations. On 29 February 2024, the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly, where the BJP holds a majority, passed a unanimous resolution opposing any extension of the SoO agreement with the UPF and KNO. The Centre ignored both actions. An agreement that the host state has twice repudiated continues to function as a shield because the Centre has decided that it serves a purpose larger than the sovereign will of the state it claims to protect.[8]

The revised ground rules signed in September 2025 reiterated the territorial integrity of Manipur and required KNO and UPF to relocate camps, deposit weapons, and allow verification of cadres. Six months later, “SoO cadres continue to possess weapons” and “intimidation, harassment, and abduction of Naga civilians by armed SoO cadres are taking place in the presence of security forces.” The Joint Monitoring Group, mandated to enforce the rules, has not acted.[9]

Meanwhile, the NIA court framed charges against Mark Thangmang Haokip, the chief of the Kuki National Army, for “conspiring to secede from India and waging war against the Government of India.” A diary seized from him “allegedly detailed plans to establish sovereign authority over a proposed ‘Kukiland,’ encompassing territories in India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.” This is not a fringe figure. This is the chief of a Kuki armed group whose cadres operate under the same SoO shield that the Centre refuses to dismantle.[10]

The SoO agreement has become a licence for secessionist ambition. The Kuki State Demand Committee has drawn a map claiming 12,958 square kilometres, more than 60 percent of Manipur’s territory, for a “Kukiland” that would consume the entirety of Churachandpur, all of Chandel, the Sadar Hills of Senapati, and large portions of Tamenglong and Ukhrul. The KNO and UPF, the very groups under SoO protection, have demanded a separate Union Territory for the Kuki-Zo community in the hill areas. When armed men who have been demanding a separate state declare control over national airspace, they are not making a threat about helicopters. They are practising for the day they claim the territory beneath those skies.[11]

The Helicopter That Flew Through a Threat

The Imphal-Ukhrul passenger helicopter service operates because the roads have become death traps. NH-202, the lifeline between the hills and the valley, has been held hostage by Kuki narco-terrorists who have shut it down with gunfire for months, turning a three-hour journey into an impossibility. On 14 March 2026, the Kuki CSO Working Committee Ukhrul imposed an “indefinite total shutdown along the NH-202 (Imphal-Ukhrul Road)” and demanded “the relocation of all Kuki villages in Ukhrul to Kangpokpi district.” The Tangkhul Naga Long described the blockade as “unwarranted and unlawful” and stated that the road serves as a vital link connecting the region with the rest of the state.[12]

On 18 April 2026, Kuki militants ambushed a passenger vehicle on NH-202 near TM Kasom, killing two Tangkhul Naga civilians, including a retired Army personnel. The Chief Minister called it a “heinous act” and a “crime against humanity.” The TNL alleged the attack was carried out “by Kuki militants under Suspension of Operations (SoO).”[13]

The chopper became the only safe passage for civilians, patients, and essential supplies. And now, even that lifeline is threatened with destruction. The Kuki militants have progressed from blocking roads to claiming airspace. The sequence is instructive: first the highway, then the sky. What remains after the sky?

The Cross-Border Dimension

The threat to Indian airspace cannot be separated from the cross-border dimension of the Kuki insurgency. On 7 May 2026, Kuki National Army-Burma (KNA-B) militants attacked three Naga villages, namely Z. Choro, Namlee-Wanglee, and Kaka, in Kamjong district, burning houses and displacing residents. The Naga bodies stated that “SoO cadres and KNA-B militants operate in tandem, engaging in targeted killings of Naga civilians, burning of ancestral villages, highway terrorism and systematic extortion.” They further alleged that the state had not only failed to protect the people, but that its “silence, appeasement, and partisan conduct of its forces” had emboldened the aggressors.[14]

The Naga memorandum to the Prime Minister stated: “When Naga homes are bombed, people kidnapped by foreign terrorists, and National Highways blocked, the national security stands broken and breached.” On 20 May 2026, Naga organisations formally demanded abrogation of the SoO agreement, stating “The SoO has allowed the Kuki armed groups to operate like terrorists in our land and rob us of hard-earned peace.”[15]

What Must Follow

The Government of India must act immediately to:

(1). Register an FIR under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against every individual who signed or authorised the VV Ukhrul Gamkai statement of 19 May 2026.

(2). Deploy adequate security to guarantee the safety of the Imphal-Ukhrul helicopter service and all civilian air traffic over Manipur, making clear that no non-state actor will be permitted to regulate Indian airspace.

(3). Abrogate the Suspension of Operations agreement with all Kuki militant groups immediately. An agreement that shields those who claim sovereign control over national airspace, whose cadres threaten to burn down entire villages, and whose chief has been charged with conspiring to secede from India, is not a peace pact. It is a surrender document.

(4). Investigate the funding and supply chain that has placed automatic rifles in the hands of teenagers, RPGs on the shoulders of men who mock the Indian Army on video, and drones in the hands of militants who have bombed civilians in Koutruk village. Those who arm them are co-conspirators to every threat made against the state.

Conclusion

The Kuki militants have drawn a line in the sky. It is now for the Indian state to decide whether that line exists. A state that cannot protect its own airspace from armed non-state actors has ceased to be sovereign in fact, regardless of what its constitution declares. The world is watching. The helicopters are flying. And the men who said they would shoot them down are waiting to see whether anyone stops them.

References

1. “VV Ukhrul Gamkai warns passenger chopper of being shot down,” Rural Post, 19 May 2026.

2. “Manipur: Kuki-Zo militants threaten Indian military troops, demand to turn back,” India Today, 17 March 2024.

3. “Manipur: Kuki Militants open fire at Army post in Bishnupur,” The Hindu, 25 March 2026; “Fresh gunfight erupts between Kuki militants and security forces in Manipur’s Phouljang area,” Times of India, 25 March 2026.

4. “Assam Rifles convoy challenged by Kuki armed cadres in Manipur,” The Week, 10 September 2023.

5. FIR filed by Ireng Naga Village Authority; reproduced in “KNF cadres deface Ireng village memorial, issue threats,” Ekhon, 12 January 2026.

6. “Explained: SoO agreement with Kuki militant groups,” The Hindu, 22 August 2024.

7. “Kuki militants continue to flout SoO ground rules,” India Today, 12 February 2025.

8. “Manipur Assembly passes resolution against extension of SoO pact,” The Hindu, 29 February 2024.

9. “SoO ground rules revised: Kuki groups to relocate camps,” Imphal Free Press, 14 September 2025; “Six months on, SoO cadres still possess weapons,” Ekhon, 19 March 2026.

10. “NIA charges KNA chief for conspiring to secede,” The Indian Express, 14 September 2025.

11. “Kuki State Demand Committee pushes for 12,958 sq km Kukiland,” Deccan Herald, 5 June 2023.

12. “Kuki CSO imposes indefinite NH-202 shutdown,” Sangai Express, 14 March 2026; “TNL condemns NH-202 blockade,” Ukhrul Times, 15 March 2026.

13. “Two killed in NH-202 ambush near TM Kasom,” The Hindu, 18 April 2026.

14. “KNA-B attack on Kamjong villages,” Imphal Times, 7 May 2026; “Naga bodies demand SoO abrogation,” Ekhon, 20 May 2026.

15. Memorandum submitted by Naga civil society organisations to the Prime Minister, 20 May 2026.