Impact of inter-district blockade Going back to May 13
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Given the situation and the victim story that is sought to be conveyed to the rest of the country and the world at large, a brief recap is in line. Manipur woke up to the extremely distressing news of three Thadou Church leaders being assassinated while they were on their way back to Kangpokpi from Churachandpur on May 13, 2026. Even as news of the assassination went viral on the social media, Kuki Inpi Manipur promptly pointed the finger of accusation at the NSCN (IM) and the Kamson group of the ZUF for killing the Thadou Church leaders and followed this up by clamping a total shutdown in all Kuki dominated places from May 13. A shutdown in Kuki dominated areas meant the Imphal-Dimapur line was cut off, as Kuki inhabited places located along the said route include Motbung and Kangpokpi, two of the biggest settlements that come to mind now. So effectively the shutdown meant shutting down all movements along the lifeline of Manipur and in the process cutting off all ties between Imphal and Senapati district headquarters and places lying north of the district headquarters including Maram, Tadubi, Mao, to name just three places. It was four days later, that is on May 17, that the United Naga Council also rolled out what it calls inter-district blockade, which like the total shutdown meant cutting off the supply route to places south of Senapati district headquarters. The rational of the shutdown call issued by KIM also needs to be seen and understood against the backdrop of the fact that the spot where the three Thadou Church leaders were killed is a stronghold of the KNF (P), a Kuki armed group, which is a signatory of the SoO pact. Other than this, 18 Naga people including women and a child were taken hostage on May 13 itself from near Leilon Vaiphei village. The hostage drama did not stop there, for the Nagas too acted and took into custody 14 Kuki men. The similarity however ends here, for while the 14 Kuki men were released safe and sound on June 9, six Naga men, who were part of the 18 Naga people abducted from Leilon Vaiphei village, were found killed in the most grotesque manner on June 10. It is on the mutilated bodies of the six Naga men that different Naga bodies, including the United Naga Council (UNC), Naga People’s Organisation (NPO), Senapati District Students’ Association (SDSA), Senapati District Women’s Association (SDWA) and others have declared that the inter-district blockade would be intensified until justice is delivered and the killers booked and arrested. Take the open admission of the chairman of the Kuk-Zo Council, Thanglet that the six Naga men were killed by Kuki militants and the full picture should emerge.
That the blockade has dealt a harsh blow on the people of Kangpokpi and adjoining areas can be gauged easily from news reports which have been given to some media houses located in other parts of the country. As a newspaper which has seen the impacts of blockade and how it affects the daily lives of the average man and woman, The Sangai Express can understand the situation under which the people of Kangpokpi, Motbung and other places must be surviving right now and it is on this that CoTU, KIM and others have been trying to highlight their victim stories. But it stands that it was the shutdown, the abduction and massacre of the six Naga men and the web of tales that has been spun out which led to the inter-district blockade. To understand the inter-district blockade one will need to go back to May 13 and piece things together to get the whole picture. Six people massacred in captivity while the 14 others were released safe and sound. Impose a total shutdown against an assassination which occurred in a place known as the stronghold of a Kuki armed group and then try to tell a victim story. An art which CoTU, KIM and others seem to have mastered from the day Meitei people and their houses were targeted and brought down to the ground at Churachandpur and Torbung on May 3, 2023. As stated earlier here, the impact of any blockade is felt most by the people, not the well placed leaders and those who pull the strings. The road connecting Imphal to Dimapur has been off limits to the Meiteis since the evening of May 3, 2023 and now the Nagas too have come under this tag. Blockaded for over a month, but remember Imphal has remained cut off by road since 2023.
That the blockade has dealt a harsh blow on the people of Kangpokpi and adjoining areas can be gauged easily from news reports which have been given to some media houses located in other parts of the country. As a newspaper which has seen the impacts of blockade and how it affects the daily lives of the average man and woman, The Sangai Express can understand the situation under which the people of Kangpokpi, Motbung and other places must be surviving right now and it is on this that CoTU, KIM and others have been trying to highlight their victim stories. But it stands that it was the shutdown, the abduction and massacre of the six Naga men and the web of tales that has been spun out which led to the inter-district blockade. To understand the inter-district blockade one will need to go back to May 13 and piece things together to get the whole picture. Six people massacred in captivity while the 14 others were released safe and sound. Impose a total shutdown against an assassination which occurred in a place known as the stronghold of a Kuki armed group and then try to tell a victim story. An art which CoTU, KIM and others seem to have mastered from the day Meitei people and their houses were targeted and brought down to the ground at Churachandpur and Torbung on May 3, 2023. As stated earlier here, the impact of any blockade is felt most by the people, not the well placed leaders and those who pull the strings. The road connecting Imphal to Dimapur has been off limits to the Meiteis since the evening of May 3, 2023 and now the Nagas too have come under this tag. Blockaded for over a month, but remember Imphal has remained cut off by road since 2023.