Part of the Manipur Crisis Chronicle. Every claim carries a cited source; contested numbers are shown with their dates, never merged. This installment covers 1–31 December 2025, with the year-end formation question carried into January 2026.
On December 1, a day after the displaced launched a month-long protest, the Manipur government announced high-level committees to "strengthen" rehabilitation and resettlement: a State-Level Committee chaired by the Chief Secretary, with the Finance, Home and Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Commissioners and the Special or Additional Secretary (Home) as convenor, plus District-Level Committees under each Deputy Commissioner.[334] India Today NE's report of the same notification lists the district panels as including the Project Director of DRDA, the Additional Deputy Commissioner as Convenor, and the CEO of the Zilla Parishad.[336] The government statement said the panels reflected commitment to a "coordinated, responsive, and people-centric approach".[334] The same report carries the month's marching orders from COCOMI convenor Khuraijam Athouba: "We will protest every single day until the government fulfils its promise to rehabilitate all the displaced families to where they came from by December."[334] The report restates the displacement ledger: more than 260 killed, 62,000 displaced, about 58,000 still in camps.[334]
Own analysis. The December 1 notification is the state's answer to the November 30 protest: committees, not a date. The promise the protesters cite — return "by December" — is recorded as a promise,[334] and December's own record below shows partial, contested return.
On December 4, the Deputy Commissioner of Bishnupur flagged off the return of 257 internally displaced persons from 64 families from the Leimaram High School relief camp to their native homes at Leimaram Waroiching under Nambol subdivision.[339] The DC called it a "meaningful and historic moment", said financial assistance had been released for rebuilding, assured that Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) support would continue, and noted students would resume studies from home with Mission Vatsalya scholarships.[339]
Five days later, a COCOMI survey of the same site reported that seven houses "lie completely flattened", and that most others required "70-80% renovation or reconstruction to make them inhabitable", with sanitation "an equally critical concern" — many houses having no toilets or unusable ones.[340] COCOMI called for a house-wise damage assessment and revised compensation, and complained that strict entry checks at the village entrance — including photographing visitors — were a hardship for returning families, recommending the security deployment be relocated to the border area between the Kuki and Meitei settlement zones.[340]
Own analysis. The flag-off and the survey are the same story eight working days apart, and neither cancels the other: 64 families did leave the Leimaram camp on December 4,[339] and the houses they returned to were, per COCOMI's survey, largely uninhabitable.[340] The perception gap this month is not between communities but between the formal log of resettlement and the ground condition at the resettlement site — a split the chronicle records without adjudicating, because the two sources are different kinds of documents (a government flag-off vs a civil-society survey).
On December 1, the Kuki-Zo Council (KZC) objected to "renewed attempts" by the Manipur government to operationalise the Manipur Hill Areas (Acquisition of Chiefs' Rights) Act, 1967 — which it said took away the traditional land ownership of Scheduled Tribe chiefs in the hills — citing a November 24 letter from the Home Department to the Land Resources and Tribal Affairs departments, based on a representation from the Manipur Meetei Tribes Union calling for implementation of the never-operationalised law.[335] The KZC called the move "deliberate" and said it "risks further escalation" while the state was still in "a state of conflict and displacement"; it also objected to the North Eastern Council's November 27 sanction of ₹2.13 crore for a Hill chiefs' Guest House at Palace Compound, Imphal — "a location where Kuki-Zo chiefs and citizens cannot safely enter today".[335]
Same-day, the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR) submitted a "detailed and critical final representation" to the NHRC alleging the Action Taken Reports filed by the Manipur government and state police "provide an incomplete and distorted picture of the ongoing ethnic conflict", citing selective data, "N/A" responses, ignored Supreme Court directives, and the exclusion of the Justice Gita Mittal-led committee's 37 reports among other findings.[337] The Hindu's version quotes the KOHRT letter: "These reports demonstrate a systematic denial of institutional failure, ethnic targetting, and state complicity."[338] The government's ATRs, per The Hindu, said allegations that the State "chooses to support and assist" militants of the dominant community were "wrong and misconceived".[338]
On December 8, in what The Hindu reported as a first since 2023, Meitei MLA Yumnam Khemchand Singh of the Singjamei constituency visited a Kuki relief camp at Litan Sareikhong in Ukhrul district, telling inmates: "With Christmas approaching, we all should pray for the return of peace in the State."[341] The next day the Kuki-Zo Council questioned the visit: it took place without prior notice to community leaders, camp authorities or district officials; the MLA later circulated images on social media; and the Council called it "a superficial exercise that did little to address ongoing concerns of safety, justice and accountability", adding that the stopover "carried no substantive benefit" for those still in displacement.[342]
President Droupadi Murmu's first visit to Manipur (December 11-12) drew both a boycott and a welcome. CorCom, "a conglomerate of armed rebel groups", announced a statewide shutdown on December 11 and 12, condemning the visit, calling the President a "colonial authority" and alleging the government's approach was a "proxy war" and "conspiracy to divide Manipur".[343] The Kuki-Zo Council welcomed her, saying the President's presence "carries deep significance and offers hope to many who continue to live with the scars of the ongoing conflict", while wishing she — "being a tribal herself" — could visit Kuki-Zo areas to meet victims who had suffered "amounting to ethnic cleansing".[344] At a civic reception on December 11, Murmu said: "I am aware of the pain that the people of Manipur have gone through," and announced 14 projects worth ₹1,180 crore launched plus 12 projects worth ₹207 crore inaugurated.[345] The same report restates the toll: at least 260 dead since May 2023.[345]
Own analysis. The visit is the month's cleanest demonstration of the chronicle's core method: the same event, three publics. The armed conglomerate's frame (colonial authority),[343] the Kuki-Zo civil frame (a hope-carrying ally who should see the hills),[344] and the state's frame (development projects + harmony language)[345] — each carried by its own source, none adjudicated.
On December 12-13, the BJP's central leadership summoned the party's Manipur MLAs to Delhi for a December 14 meeting.[346] Ten MLAs, including former CM N. Biren Singh and Speaker Th. Satyabrata Singh, flew to Delhi on December 13; Biren Singh said he was "expecting positive things for a better Manipur" and that the question of government formation "will be known only after the meeting".[347] The Hindu's December 12 report notes seven of the Kuki-Zo MLAs (among the 10 insisting on a "separate administration" before supporting any government) were asked to attend, and records the arithmetic: after the death of NPP MLA N. Kayisii, the 60-member Assembly has an effective strength of 59, and the BJP — with 32 seats — "continues to command a majority".[346]
The formation question stayed open to year's end. On December 31, Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee president Keisham Meghachandra said peace and normalcy could be restored "only through the dissolution of the present legislative assembly and holding of fresh elections in 2026"; the report restates that the 60-member assembly, "whose tenure extends till 2027, has been kept under suspended animation" under President's Rule since February 13.[361] BJP MLA Tongbram Robindro, in the same report, appealed for reconciliation: "At this festive time, I appeal to people across communities to forgive and forget misunderstandings and return to peace, normalcy and cordial relations with the coming of the New Year."[361]
On the night of December 16, gunshots were heard at Torbung and Phougakchao Ikhai in the Meitei-dominated Bishnupur district bordering the Kuki-Zo-majority Churachandpur district.[348] The Hindu's first report notes the incident came "a day after 389 internally displaced persons returned to their homes in Bishnupur after spending more than 31 months in relief camps", and quotes a police officer: "We are trying to find out if there is any casualty."[348]
The police's own statement (via India Today NE) says an FIR was registered "following indiscriminate gunfire by Kuki armed groups at Torbung on December 16, 2025"; searches in Kangvai recovered a cache including one long-range improvised pumpi, four medium-range improvised pumpis, one barrel-blasted medium-range pumpi, a single-barrelled firearm, 17 empty cartridge cases, and an improvised explosive device of approximately three kilograms which the Bomb Disposal Squad neutralised.[349]
COCOMI's account, also December 17, describes armed assailants carrying out "indiscriminate firing and explosive attacks in civilian areas" around 8.30 pm, an attack that "terrorised innocent civilians", violated Article 21, and was aggravated, per COCOMI, by a public statement attributed to Kuki-Zo Council leader Ginza Vualzong allegedly justifying the attack — conduct COCOMI called criminal incitement and "an affront to constitutional values".[350]
The Kuki-Zo Council's own statement, same day, reads the night differently: it voices concern over "a fresh incident reported late evening of December 16 in the highly sensitive Torbung buffer zone", recalls that the May 3, 2023 violence originated in Torbung — where the first fatality, Pastor Sekhonohao Kipgen, was allegedly beaten to death in public view, and where at least 45 Kuki-Zo members died in the first two days — and calls the Bishnupur Deputy Commissioner's decision to resettle Meitei IDPs in the buffer zone "deeply irresponsible and provocative", demanding it be rolled back.[351]
Own analysis. Four sources, one night, three registers: the police's criminal-investigation register (FIR, gunfire by named groups, recovered ordnance),[349] COCOMI's constitutional-order register (Article 21, incitement),[350] and the KZC's deterritorial register (buffer zone, first-fatality history, resettlement as provocation).[351] The Hindu's wire-style first report supplies the date context no other source carries — the 389-person return the day before.[348] No source reports casualties as confirmed at time of writing; the police's "if there is any casualty" line[348] and the FIR's weapon-cache emphasis[349] leave the outcome of the night itself unresolved in the record. The chronicle flag that the resettlement decision sits inside the Torbung buffer zone — the epicentre of the original outbreak — is present in the KZC record only; the state's resettlement statement[360] does not address the buffer-zone designation.
On December 16, the Centre gave another extension to the Commission of Inquiry probing the 2023 Manipur violence: the three-member panel headed by former Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Ajai Lamba (with retired IAS officer Himanshu Shekhar Das and retired IPS officer Aloka Prabhakar) will now submit its report "as soon as possible but not later than the 20th May, 2026".[352] The report restates the panel's toll: the violence "claimed 260 lives".[352]
The year-end security and drug ledger continues. On December 24-26, Assam Rifles and Manipur Police seized 1,60,000 Yaba tablets worth approximately ₹40 crore in Jiribam district, arresting one person.[357] The same report records a separate Imphal West operation in which police arrested two persons, including a 44-year-old cadre of the proscribed Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup, apprehended from a rented house in Keishampat Leimajam Leikai, along with an associate to whom ammunition and explosives had been handed over.[357]
The poppy thread closed the year with a genuinely cross-community arc: former CM Biren Singh on December 3 shared a video from Kangpokpi district showing poppy at Kolten and Selsi Hill Ranges, asking why the Forest Department had not acted and warning "the State will face an existential crisis".[353] India Today NE's version of the same statement quotes him warning of an existential crisis and linking poppy, deforestation and recurrent floods.[354] On December 23, Kuki civil society organisations — including the Kuki Inpi Sadar Hills and the Sadar Hills Chiefs' Association — jointly resolved to "halt poppy cultivation across Manipur's Kangpokpi district from January 1, 2026", stating after meetings on December 10, 16 and 19 that "poppy cultivation will be completely discontinued in their respective jurisdictions from 2026 onwards".[355]
On December 20, three children were critically injured when they encountered an explosive device while playing in Molnoi Kuki Village under Pallel police station in Tengnoupal district; the Manipur Commission for Protection of Child Rights issued a formal notice to the district administration, listed immediate measures (medical coverage, Ayushman Bharat, Mission Vatsalya enrolment), and gave the Deputy Commissioner 15 days for an action-taken report.[359] A December 26 report records COCOMI's memorandum to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla demanding "a clear and written resettlement plan", warning any delay "could further erode public trust and deepen social tensions" — and asserting resettlement "should not be treated as a discretionary executive action but as a constitutional responsibility".[356]
On December 30, the government launched — in press-release form — a "₹523 crore drive to safely resettle 10,000 displaced families": a three-phase Resettlement and Rehabilitation package under the 2025-26 Budget (partially damaged houses; PMAY-G housing; inter-district Valley-Hill relocation), with funds released to Deputy Commissioners (₹35.46 crore for house construction, ₹9.26 crore for partially damaged homes) and, per the release, "approximately 10,000 IDPs from more than 2,200 households have been resettled, while another 4,000 houses are under construction".[360] The release says DBT benefits began November 1, 2025, and quotes Chief Secretary Dr. Puneet Kumar Goel on the government's dedication to "enabling every displaced family to return home safely, with dignity and security".[360]
Own analysis. The ₹523-crore press release is the month's loudest single government number, and the chronicle records it as a claim — dated, sourced, not independently verified. Set beside December's daily record, it coexists uneasily: a resettlement site seven-eighths flattened by COCOMI's survey,[340] an IDP protest that ran the whole month,[334] the buffer-zone resettlement the KZC calls provocative,[351] and 389 returnees in Bishnupur greeted by gunfire.[348] None of those records contradicts the release; the release simply does not address them.