Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek on 1st of September 2026, stated the need to “dismantle the entire ecosystem of terrorism — its financing, recruitment, radicalisation and safe havens.” He emphasised that terrorism remains a grave challenge for all of humanity and stressed that the fight against it cannot be limited to a mere action-reaction mindset. “We must speak in one voice that there can be no place for double standards on this serious issue,” Modi said.
Back home in Manipur, this statement resonates with the people, who are left wondering whether it will be implemented within the country itself.
Under the Suspension of Operations (SoO) Agreement, Kuki militants are paid stipends, given rations, shelter, and living provisions by the government, and kept in designated safe camps under the supervision of security forces. The revised ground rules require that their weapons be kept under lock and key in the nearest CRPF/BSF camp and that cadres are not allowed to leave the vicinity. However, Kuki SoO cadres have faced allegations of involvement in attacking Naga villages, burning houses, looting/disrupting postal services by burning valuable documents, and carrying out ambushes resulting in civilian deaths, kidnappings, and murders. Under these circumstances, the SoO arrangements amount to the government financing the upkeep of militant outfits, as cadres are allegedly engaged in illegal activities that would normally attract the unilateral termination of the agreement and stern legal action against perpetrators.
This raises a pressing question: why did the government allow a well-intentioned arrangement under the SoO agreement to be implemented so loosely that the resulting scenario appears to resemble state-sponsored terrorism? The Prime Minister appealed to world leaders to dismantle the entire ecosystem of terrorism, its financing, recruitment, radicalisation, and safe havens, adding that there can be no place for double standards. Yet, the government continues to finance and provide safe havens to radicalised Kuki militants who are protected by security forces and given a free hand to attack and kill civilians. This situation amounts to “state-sponsored terrorism,” which is an international embarrassment. It is a classic case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.
While the Prime Minister was addressing world leaders about the need to dismantle terror ecosystems, Kuki militants under the SoO agreement were attacking Tapon Naga village in Manipur. A few days earlier, they had ambushed a vehicle, killing four Naga men, and prior to that, kidnapped and brutally murdered six Naga men. These and numerous similar attacks on Nagas across Manipur have taken place regularly.
Furthermore, the alleged main accused in these crimes heads an outfit under the SoO Agreement and is the spouse of a high-ranking state political leader. How can any official sanctity be given to such an arrangement, which clearly involves serious conflicts of interest?
The indigenous people of Manipur have been demanding the termination of the SoO Agreement for violations and the sacking of the Deputy Chief Minister from the Kuki tribe for her links with a SoO outfit headed by her husband, accused as the alleged mastermind behind all the killings.
These facts need the attention of Prime Minister Modi for consideration of taking corrective action, as this is a critical contradiction between foreign policy and domestic realities.
Ngaranmi Shimray
New Delhi
(The views and opinions in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official stance of Rural Post)
