The Kuki-Naga ethnic conflict in Northeast India, mainly within the hill districts of Manipur, is a territorial dispute over overlapping claims to ancestral land, ethnic autonomy, and political hegemony.

Friction over land boundaries erupted into full-scale conflict in 1992-1998. Nagas have been raising the demand of Nagalim (Greater Nagaland), while the Kuki want a distinct territory - Kukiland. The conflict quietened post 1998 due to localized community-led peace accords, administrative boundaries (buffer lines), and security interventions.

Changed Security Dynamic

But the re-eruption of the Kuki-Naga conflict in early 2026 has fundamentally altered the security dynamic in Manipur. Catalysts include following two accords by India's Ministry of Home Affairs involving resource-sharing disputes with Assam and granting administrative autonomy to eastern Nagaland, deliberately sidelining the Kuki-zo: 

· Frontier Nagaland Territorial Authority (FTNA) for six eastern districts of Nagaland; transferring powers of 46+ subjects to FNTA - economic and developmental powers.

· Assam-Nagaland Border & Oil Exploration Pact between the Centre, Assam, and Nagaland – enabling crude oil and natural gas exploration with 50:50 resource-sharing.

The continuing Kuki-Naga conflict is viewed as a diversion from the deadly Meitei-Kuki violence in Manipur in 2023 that was seen by many as a state-sponsored ethnic- cleansing experiment. For attacking Kuki, former chief minister Biren Singh - who was later replaced - allegedly used armed Meitei group Arambai Tenggol (AT) and Manipur Police commandos operating directly under him.  

Korounganba Khuman, leader of Arambai Tenggol is erstwhile driver-cum-security officer of Rajya Sabha MP Leishemba SanajaobaIn. In June 2023, over a dozen terrorists of the Meitei insurgent group Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) apprehended by the Indian Army, with arms, ammunition and warlike stores, were forced to hand over the terrorists to a 1200-1500-strong mob led by a local politician of the Biren Singh regime. (https://www.thestrategicperspective.org/visual-composer-1657/).

The Naga Angst

Nagas knew that after Kuki-Zo, they would be next in the crosshairs of the state-supported Meitei armed groups. So, Nagas initially  decided to stay away till they also were targeted. Segregation of districts and buffer zones re-ignited Kuki-Naga anxieties over who controls the surrounding hill territories.

The situation reached a boiling point in May 2026 when armed men ambushed and killed Kuki Baptist church leaders in Kangpokpi district (https://www.thestrategicperspective.org/bleeding-manipur/), triggering mass retaliatory abductions by both sides, culminating in the torture and discovery of mutilated bodies of Naga captives in June 2026.  

Naga civil bodies accuse Kuki operating under the government's Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement of violating rules, attacking Naga settlements with impunity. Kuki allege Naga factions, like the NSCN-IM, are executing proxy attacks to systematically displace them.

The ongoing civil war in Myanmar has caused an influx of armed cadres (Meitei, Naga and Kuki) into Manipur's border tracts like Kamjong district, further squeezing finite land resources and aggravating historical territorial disputes. What began as a localized dispute under the state's newly elected government in February 2026 has escalated into intense, multi-district armed warfare. More than 40 people have been killed and over 100 houses have been systematically torched in the Kuki-Naga clashes.

Conflict Drawing Global Interest

Killings of Kuki-Nagas (both Christians) is watched globally, especially in the US. Vice President JD Vance explicitly referred to the US as a "Christian nation" in December 2025. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has established an Office of Religious Affairs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pIEPjOw7-E). Not surprising, US ambassador Sergio Gor visited Manipur in September 2026, meeting the Governor and the Chief Minister.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited Manipur just once for three hours since 2014 after 29 months of ethnic violence that killed some 300, injured 1,500+ and displaced at least 67,000.  Modi reached out to Christians at New Delhi in December 2025 (https://www.thestrategicperspective.org/modis-christmas-outreach/) and has sent 4,000-4,250 members of the Bnei Menashe community from the northeast, primarily from Manipur and Mizoram, to Israel.

American national and international mercenary Mathew Aaron VanDyke along with six Ukrainians transiting through India with foreign drones and associated combat gear appears to have had repercussions.  An Assam Rifles patrol team was ambushed by suspected militants near the India-Myanmar border in Arunachal Pradesh's Changlang district on September 29, 2026, resulting in the killing of one Assam Rifles personnel and injuring four others. The NSCN-K (Yung Aung) faction and the Revolutionary People's Front (RPF) subsequently claimed joint responsibility for the operation.

But the continuing Kuki-Naga conflict is likely to have much more serious fallout. On September 29, 2026, the Tangkhul Aze Katamnao Long (TAKL), also known as the Southern Tangkhul Students' Union, issued a press conference and statement in Imphal expressing severe frustration over security failures along the India-Myanmar border in Manipur. TAKL President Yarchuiso Kashung warned that if the authorities continue to fail to protect vulnerable indigenous citizens, border residents "may have to seek help from neighbours such as China".

China has been supporting and arming insurgent groups in northeast India since decades. But Indian authorities need to acknowledge the gravity of the escalating dynamics in the northeast region and in India's immediate neighbourhood. Hoping that the situation will ease by itself with passage of time will be a mistake.

(The author is an Indian Army veteran. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at prakashkatoch7@gmail.com)