Imphal: The United Naga Council (UNC), the apex Naga body in Manipur, has urged the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to review security deployment along the Kamjong sector of the Indo-Myanmar border and terminate the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with Kuki militant groups.
In a memorandum submitted to Union Home Minister Amit Shah through the Deputy Commissioner of Senapati on July 22, the UNC called for a strategic review of the security architecture along the international border, alleging repeated violations of the SoO framework and continued cross-border militant activity.
The organisation said India’s border security arrangements had failed to prevent two major incidents in the Kamjong sector within two months.
It referred to the May 7 attacks, which it alleged were carried out by Myanmar-based Kuki National Army-Burma (KNA-B) militants and resulted in the burning of Naga villages at Z Choro, Namlee-Wanglee and Kaka.
The memorandum also cited coordinated attacks on Huimin Thana and Kherongram on July 1, alleging that Kuki militants acted in coordination with KNA-B cadres.
The UNC said preventing isolated incursions was not sufficient and called for a comprehensive security strategy to stop repeated attacks along the same stretch of the border.
The organisation also renewed its demand for the termination of the SoO agreement with all Kuki militant groups, citing the May 13 abduction and killing of 18 Naga civilians from Leilon Vaiphei village. It alleged that the hostages were abducted by local village authorities and cadres of the Kuki National Front-President (KNF-P), a constituent of the United People’s Front (UPF), which is a signatory to the SoO agreement.
The memorandum further referred to the recovery of the bodies of six abducted Nagas on June 10, alleging that they had been killed while in captivity.
The UNC alleged that cadres operating under the SoO arrangement had been able to commit serious offences with impunity because of shortcomings in the existing security framework, and urged the Centre to immediately terminate the agreement with all Kuki militant groups.