GUWAHATI, April 5: The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) has strongly rejected the recent meeting between representatives of Meetei and Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi-Hmar communities organized by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in New Delhi, calling it a “stage-managed spectacle” aimed at legitimizing Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s narrative on the Manipur crisis.

In a sharp statement issued on Friday, COCOMI said it deliberately refused to participate in what it described as a government-orchestrated “façade of peace talks” designed to project a false sense of progress. The group accused the Union government of manipulating the ethnic conflict storyline for political gain, while actively enabling the root causes of the violence through long-standing support to Chin-Kuki militant groups under the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement.

“This is not an ethnic conflict. It is a deep-rooted crisis fuelled by narco-terrorism, separatist agendas, and a proxy war waged with the Union government’s tacit backing,” said Laikhuram Jayenta, convenor of COCOMI’s IPR Sub-Committee.

Laikhuram claimed the Centre has never acted as a neutral mediator, but rather as a party to the conflict. He alleged that successive symbolic gestures by the Home Ministry—including the recent New Delhi meeting—serve no real purpose other than providing the Home Minister with “talking points” for Parliament while ignoring the demands of ground-level stakeholders.

COCOMI’s refusal to join the talks reflects growing public frustration with what it views as New Delhi’s failure to confront key issues driving the ongoing violence in Manipur. These include the protection of narco-terrorist networks, unchecked illegal immigration from Myanmar, and support for separatist movements such as Zalengam and Kukiland, which the group says are threatening Manipur’s territorial integrity.

COCOMI reiterated its demand to enforce the rule of law across all districts, including hill regions, to dismantle SoO groups and end the state’s patronage of foreign-origin armed militias, to hold accountable all groups involved in highway blockades, territory occupations, and violent acts, to restore safe and unimpeded access to highways as promised by the Home Minister on March 8, to investigate and prosecute individuals or groups undermining peace efforts and challenging national unity, to recognize the crisis as one rooted in narco-terrorism and foreign-backed separatism, not just an ethnic clash and to restore civilian dialogue only after neutralizing the influence of armed militant factions.
COCOMI stated that civil society cannot enforce peace in a landscape dominated by armed groups operating with state protection. “The burden of creating a terror-free environment lies solely with the Government of India,” said Laikhuram.

Further, the organization accused the Centre of weaponizing ethnic identities to divide communities, using the crisis as a cover for geopolitical manoeuvring along the Indo-Myanmar border, and shaping an international narrative that deflects state complicity.

While reiterating its commitment to lasting peace and inclusive coexistence among all communities in Manipur, COCOMI urged citizens, both in India and abroad, to remain vigilant and not fall for “staged reconciliation tactics.” The group emphasized that only through sincere engagement, justice, and a firm rejection of armed coercion can true peace be restored in Manipur.

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