Photo Courtesy: nenow
Imphal: The Kuki Inpi Chandel (KICdl) is pushing back against plans to trade land along the India-Myanmar border. The group rejects a reported proposal to exchange 1.4 square miles of territory between Boundary Pillars 65 and 68 in Chandel district. They say the deal is a non-starter.
General Secretary Shokhogin Mate issued a statement following an August 4, 2026, announcement from the Ministry of External Affairs. The KICdl claims officials held bilateral talks regarding the 2.8-kilometer undemarcated stretch without consulting local village chiefs or civil society groups. This land sits near the Kabaw Valley and serves as the ancestral home for Kuki communities in the Khengjoi Sub-Division and Chakpikarong sector.
The organization insists that officials must stop treating ancestral soil as a commodity. They argue that border demarcation is not just a technical task. It threatens homes, farms, and sacred sites. Any shift in the boundary risks displacing families and erasing cultural history. The group maintains that any decision affecting the area must only proceed with the "free, prior and informed consent" of the indigenous communities living there.
The KICdl has called on both the Indian and Manipur governments to halt unilateral actions immediately. They want an open, participatory framework that includes local stakeholders in all future discussions. The group is urging all citizens in Chandel to stay united and vigilant. They reminded the public that "Land is our identity and heritage," and vowed to continue opposing any plan that excludes the people who live along the border.
Updated at 10th August 2026 at 9:48am
Beyond the border dispute, the political atmosphere in Manipur is heating up elsewhere. Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh launched a week-long Har Ghar Tiranga campaign on August 9, aiming to push a message of communal unity among Meitei, Kuki, and Naga populations. Speaking at a rally in Imphal, the Chief Minister challenged the Meitei community to act as a big brother to restore peace, citing historical cooperation during 19th-century conflicts as a model for modern development. He also acknowledged the state's diverse history, noting that the first speaker of independent Manipur in 1947 hailed from the Paite tribe.
However, that call for unity is colliding with skepticism on the ground. The Kuki Youth Organisation slammed the Chief Minister's August 8 announcement regarding unrestricted movement along highways, warning that skipping security protocols in sensitive areas could leave civilians vulnerable to violence. The youth group insisted that sustainable peace depends on concrete safety guarantees and coordination, not rushed policy shifts. They urged residents to ignore declarations that bypass established security checkpoints and buffer zones to avoid fresh skirmishes.
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