Manipur highway opens, blockade of another continues
Three days after Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh called for the resumption of free movement for all communities on Manipurâs highways, a Kuki organisation has
Three days after Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh called for the resumption of free movement for all communities on Manipurâs highways, a Kuki organisation has lifted its counter-economic blockade on Highway 202, better known as the Imphal-Ukhrul Road. However, the blockade on the more strategic Highway 2, enforced by the United Naga Council (UNC), continued. Also read: Manipur government announces reopening of Highways The Kuki Civil Society Working Committee-Ukhrul (WCKCSOS-Ukhrul) announced the withdrawal of its âtotal shutdownâ on NH-202 from 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday (August 11, 2026), after a meeting with a Manipur government delegation led by Home Minister Konthoujam Govindas.
The Kuki organisation imposed a counter-economic blockade on July 27. It intensified this into a total shutdown on August 5 protesting a selective economic blockade by certain Naga and Meitei groups targeting the Kuki community. The government team broke the ice by informing the Kuki organisation about an agreement reached between the Naga and Meitei groups to end the selective economic blockade on NH-202 against the Kukis. The WCKCSOS-Ukhrul and the government have executed a handwritten agreement to lift the blockade. âAbout 300 stranded trucks departed for Imphal from a place in Ukhrul district after the agreement,â said government spokesperson and MLA Thokchom Radheshyam.
He hoped that the government would be able to ensure the free movement of trucks on NH-2 soon. The movement of trucks on NH-2 has been suspended since May 17, after the UNC enforced an economic blockade to protest the abduction of six Nagas by Kuki miscreants. The mutilated bodies of all six were later recovered from a location in the Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district on June 10. A government delegation met the UNC leadership on Monday (August 10, 2026) to persuade it to lift the blockade.
The UNC said it would do so only if the government met its demands. The UNCâs demands include the abrogation of the Suspension of Operations agreement signed with more than 20 Kuki rebel groups and the prosecution of all those who were involved in the killing of the six Nagas.
The BriefWire