The Kuki-Zo Council (KZC) has reiterated the demand for a union territory for Kuki-Zo tribes in Manipur.
Insisting that it would be difficult for the Kuki-Zos to coexist with the non-tribal Meiteis, the KZC also warned against resettling the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) belonging to the Meitei community in the “buffer zone” or close to Kuki-Zo areas.
Buffer zone refers to a narrow strip of land, more than a kilometre wide in certain stretches, separating the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley and the surrounding hills inhabited by the Kuki-Zos.
In a memorandum to Home Minister Amit Shah, submitted through the Deputy Commissioner of Churachandpur district after a “mass rally” on Wednesday (January 14, 2026), the KZC apprised him of the “grave, prolonged, and unresolved concerns confronting our people in Manipur today”.
It said these issues were existential in nature, demanding urgent constitutional and political intervention by the Centre.
