COCOMI Rejects Delhi Peace Meeting as a Facade: Calls Out Government's Support for Narco-Terrorist Groups

Ref. No.: 15/PR/COCOMI/2025
Date: 5 April, 2025

Press Communiqué

FAÇADE OF "PEACE TALKS": HOME MINISTRY’S ORCHESTRATED MEETEI-KUKI MEETING IS A SHAM TO LEGITIMIZE MISLEADING NARRATIVE OF UNION HOME MINISTER

COCOMI consciously declined to participate in the recent orchestrated meeting between the so-called representatives of the Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi-Hmar groups and the Meetei, facilitated by officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi. COCOMI considers this stage-managed spectacle to be nothing but a strategic ploy to validate the misleading narrative advanced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Parliament — that the Manipur crisis is merely an "ethnic conflict" between Meetei and Kuki communities, allegedly triggered by the High Court's direction on Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for Meeteis.

This narrative is a gross distortion of facts. It conveniently ignores the deeper and more dangerous realities that COCOMI has consistently highlighted since the beginning of the crisis: a proxy war, enabled and perpetuated by the Government of India through its patronage of Chin-Kuki narco-terrorist groups, nurtured since 2005 under the guise of the Suspension of Operations (SoO) Agreement.

In earlier engagements with Ministry officials, including one in Imphal, COCOMI made it explicitly clear that the people of Manipur do not view the Government of India as a neutral mediator but as an active party to this conflict. Without acknowledging this truth, any so-called "peace initiative" is a hollow political show.

The Government of India has repeatedly used symbolic gestures to create a façade of resolution, avoiding sincere or substantive action. The latest hastily arranged meeting, with a handful of handpicked individuals, is yet another tactical move to construct an illusion of progress, conveniently timed for parliamentary address.

Since the violence erupted, the Government has failed to take any meaningful step to resolve the crisis. Instead, it has:

• Evaded responsibility
• Refused to confront the real drivers of the conflict
• Continued to embolden separatist elements with false hopes and covert support

COCOMI Reiterates the Following Demands:

1. Enforce rule of law across the entire state, ensuring safety and order.
2. Neutralize all hostile elements in the hill areas, including the SoO groups operating with impunity.
3. Hold accountable those who defy peace initiatives, including illegal occupation and highway blockades by Chin-Kuki militant groups.
4. Immediately abrogate the SoO Agreement and remove foreign-origin armed mercenaries from Manipur.
5. Ensure free access to highways and roads as per the Home Minister’s declaration — which failed on 8 March 2025.
6. Prosecute individuals and groups sabotaging peace efforts, including those defying the Home Minister and the Governor, to restore trust in the President’s Rule.
7. Acknowledge the real causes of the crisis: cross-border illegal immigration, narco-terrorism networks, and separatist agendas like Zalengam/Zogam/Kukiland.
8. Engage directly with SoO leadership, especially as their own MLAs and spokespersons admit only SoO groups decide on the conflict.

This prolonged crisis is the result of false assurances and covert encouragement extended to Chin-Kuki separatist elements by the Government of India. This must end now.

COCOMI emphasizes that real dialogue with the civilian Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi-Hmar and Thadou communities is only possible after a terror-free environment is established. Civil society organisations cannot disarm militants or enforce laws — that duty lies solely with the Government of India.

By shifting the burden of peace onto civilians while shielding narco-terrorist militants and suppressing the truth, the Government is:

• Weaponizing ethnic identities to divide communities,
• Exploiting the crisis for counter-insurgency and geopolitical tactics on the Indo-Myanmar frontier,
• Crafting international narratives to obscure state complicity.

COCOMI calls upon the people of Manipur, conscientious citizens of India, and the global community to see through this deception. While we remain open to all avenues for peace and ethnic harmony, we remain steadfast in our pursuit of:

• Genuine justice
• Enduring peace
• Preservation of Manipur’s territorial integrity and indigenous heritage

Issued by:
(Laikhuram Jayenta)
Convenor, IPR Sub-Committee
COCOMI, Imphal, Manipur