The Kuki Alliance for Nampi Awakening Movement (KANAM), a vocal Kuki-Zo advocacy group in Manipur, has escalated its campaign against India’s institutions with a barrage of letters dated December 30, 2025, dispatched to the US Embassy in New Delhi, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, UN Environment Programme (UNEP), UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and even President Droupadi Murmu.
In these documents, KANAM brazenly accuses the National Green Tribunal (NGT) of “institutional violence,” “bureaucratic murder,” “collective punishment,” and “lethal indifference” for its interim order halting construction on an unauthorized “ring road”—locally known as “German Road” or “Tiger Road”—in Manipur’s sensitive hill forests.
However, KANAM deliberately hide the fact that the road in question is not an official government project but an informal network cutting through forested and hilly areas in districts like Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Noney, and Ukhrul. Further, this illegal road has been named after leaders of Kuki militant groups.
This inflammatory rhetoric, portraying a routine environmental enforcement as foreseeable “genocide” against Kuki-Zo civilians, raises a critical question: Who is funding KANAM’s sophisticated international lobbying effort to defame India’s judiciary and sovereign governance on global platforms?
The group’s ability to coordinate detailed letters to high-profile international entities, complete with legalistic language and predictions of civilian deaths, suggests resources beyond a grassroots “awakening movement.”
Transparency demands answers—does support come from diaspora networks, foreign NGOs with agendas in indigenous rights, church-linked organizations (given the emphasis on “Christian tribal” identity), or elements tied to separatist narratives?
KANAM’s actions border on inviting foreign interference in India’s internal affairs. Why appeal to the US Ambassador, whose role in bilateral ties has no bearing on Manipur’s local environmental disputes?
Urging the US to “monitor” alleged “collective punishment under environmental regulation” risks diplomatic pressure on a domestic judicial matter.
Similarly, framing the NGT order as “systematic persecution” to UN bodies bypasses Indian remedies—the order is interim, with a hearing on February 2, 2026, open for modifications or humanitarian exemptions.
This internationalization aligns disturbingly with KANAM’s past rhetoric, including warnings against Meitei “intruders” in “Kuki territories” and defiant statements rejecting coexistence.
The NGT’s December 23, 2025, order by the Eastern Zone Bench in Kolkata is grounded in law, not bias. It responded to a petition by Khuraijam Athouba Singh of the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), alleging unauthorized deforestation in districts like Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Noney, and Ukhrul.
Evidence included a February 2025 memorandum from the World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council itself, satellite imagery, and admissions from Manipur authorities that no forest clearances, environmental impact assessments, or approvals existed.
The tribunal invoked the precautionary principle under the NGT Act, 2010, after the state government repeatedly failed to submit reports. This distinct from the official ADB-funded Imphal Ring Road; it’s accountability for illegal cutting through protected forests, risking landslides, erosion, and biodiversity loss in geologically fragile hills.
The NGT’s halt prevents irreversible damage while allowing legal compliance—hardly “moral criminality.” However, KANAM argue that the hill roads are “humanitarian lifelines” amid blocked national highways due to ethnic hostility since the violence erupted on May 3, 2023. The fact is, no community, including Meiteis, has systematically obstructed Kuki-Zo movement on national highways in a one-sided manner.
The highways (NH-2 and NH-37) have faced intermittent blockades and restrictions from the Kuki community only. Groups like the Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU) has imposed economic blockades and shutdowns on NH-2, often in protest against security deployments or specific incidents, defying Union Home Ministry directives for free movement.
Why anyone would challenge the NGT — India’s dedicated environmental watchdog — reveals a misunderstanding of its role. The NGT, established under the 2010 Act, is mandated to expeditiously resolve environmental disputes and enforce laws like the Forest Conservation Act and Environment Protection Act. It has a proven track record of holding even governments accountable, imposing bans on unsustainable projects and ordering restorations nationwide.
Challenging the NGT undermines environmental protection, a constitutional imperative under Articles 48A and 51A(g), and sets a dangerous precedent where conflict excuses lawlessness.
Yet, KANAM diverts with global smears, predicting deaths from a precautionary pause. Who bankrolls this anti-India narrative? Diaspora remittances? Foreign missionary networks? Separatist-leaning entities? Without disclosure, suspicions grow that KANAM serves agendas beyond “awakening”—perhaps eroding India’s unity.
This is not advocacy for humanitarian concerns; it is a calculated effort to portray Indian authorities as persecutors of a minority, inviting external scrutiny and potential interference in sovereign matters. Instead of engaging constructively—perhaps by supporting environmental impact assessments or legal clearances—KANAM opts for global forums, predicting “foreseeable” civilian deaths and assigning blame to the tribunal and governments.
This hyperbolic portrayal ignores the order’s basis: documented illegal construction through protected forests without clearances, flagged even in a February 2025 memorandum from the World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council itself.Worse, this aligns with broader separatist tendencies.
KANAM’s international campaign diverts from constructive paths, portraying lawful environmental enforcement as ethnic persecution. Their language also echoes demands for political separation, as seen in related groups observing “Separation Day” and imposing highway shutdowns.
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