Overview

• On August 6, a 13-member delegation from Thadou Inpi Manipur held a closed-door session with Meitei civil society groups in Imphal Valley, the first such encounter since May 2023
• Participants included the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity, All Manipur United Clubs Organisation, Federation of Civil Society Organisations, Arambai Tenggol, Ima women’s collectives and major student bodies
• Discussions focused on restoring peace, rebuilding inter-community relationships and eliminating longstanding mistrust between the Thadou and Meitei communities
• Thadou Inpi Manipur asserted that the Thadou tribe is an indigenous community separate from the Kuki nomenclature, which it described as a foreign-origin political construct linked to extremist ideologies
• After the talks, TIM leaders alleged they were detained at their Imphal hotel but senior police officers denied any detention, saying security personnel were deployed solely for delegates’ safety