Two months after the Manipur government refused to send a representative to a meeting called by the Centre to extend the suspension of operations (SoO) pact with Kuki-Zo insurgent groups, the “status quo” on the agreement exists on the ground. Despite the Centre’s directives to extend the pact, the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Manipur did not send any official to participate in the tripartite meeting on February 29, leaving the agreement in a limbo.
The tripartite pact was signed in 2008 by the United Peoples’ Front (UPF) and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), an umbrella of 24 insurgent groups, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Manipur government. It has been extended periodically since 2008.
After ethnic violence between the Kuki-Zo people and the Meitei people erupted in the State on May 3, 2023, there were strong demands from the Valley areas to abrogate the SoO agreement.
