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Manipur

46 KCP-PWG Militants Surrender in Manipur, Hand Over 28 Weapons in Unprecedented Mass Laydown

By Sentinel NE Desk · July 22, 2026 · 4 min read
Assam Rifles soldier on patrol. Photo: Bharat2047 via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0, public domain).
Assam Rifles soldier on patrol
Assam Rifles soldier on patrol (representative image). Photo: Bharat2047 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 public domain.

Forty-six active cadres of the banned Kangleipak Communist Party (People’s War Group), or KCP-PWG, surrendered before Manipur Chief Minister Y. Khemchand Singh on Tuesday in a homecoming ceremony at the Mantripukhri Garrison, headquarters of Assam Rifles (South), in Imphal East district, according to the Ministry of Defence and multiple news outlets. The cadres voluntarily laid down 28 weapons along with a large quantity of ammunition, magazines and explosives, marking one of the largest single surrenders by the faction since Manipur’s ethnic conflict began in May 2023.

The weapons handed over included AK rifles, .303 rifles, pistols, double-barrel and single-barrel rifles, an INSAS rifle, a self-loading rifle, carbine machine guns and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, The Tribune and ThePrint reported, citing officials. Security officials described the scale of the surrender as unprecedented for the KCP-PWG faction, whose past surrenders had typically involved groups of five to twelve cadres. None of the 46 who surrendered Tuesday had been part of any prior peace agreement with the government, according to a Ministry of Defence statement cited by ThePrint.

The ceremony drew senior security leadership, including Lieutenant General Girish Kalia, General Officer Commanding of the Spear Corps, the Director General of Manipur Police, the Inspector General of Assam Rifles (South), the General Officer Commanding of the Red Shield Division and the Deputy Inspector General of the Central Reserve Police Force, The Sentinel reported. Manipur’s state Home Minister, chief secretary and the chief minister’s security adviser were also present, according to The Tribune. Lt Gen Kalia welcomed the cadres back to civilian life, calling their homecoming the start of a new chapter for them and their families.

Home Minister Konthoujam Govindas Singh called the surrender especially significant, noting it was the first time since the May 2023 conflict began that KCP-PWG cadres had laid down arms before the government, The Tribune reported. He credited sustained efforts by security forces for the outcome and appealed to other armed groups, inside and outside the state, to abandon violence. Chief Minister Khemchand Singh echoed that call, saying lasting development in Manipur was only possible through peace, and pledged government support under the state’s surrender policy to any group willing to return to civilian life.

Officials were careful to temper the significance of the moment. The Ministry of Defence said the mass surrender could not be described as the “absolute dissolution” of the PWG faction, but represented a severe degradation of its operational capacity and territorial reach, ThePrint reported. An Eastern Command official, quoted by The Sentinel, said the outcome followed weeks of patient outreach by Assam Rifles, Manipur Police and allied agencies, backed by the Army and state government functionaries.

The KCP was founded on April 14, 1980, by communist ideologues Y. Ibohanbi and Ibopishak with the aim of seceding Kangleipak, the historical Meitei name for Manipur, from India, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, as cited by ThePrint. Ibohanbi was killed in a security operation in 1995, after which the outfit splintered into several factions, including the PWG, which has focused on preservation of Meitei culture while continuing to operate mainly in the Imphal Valley districts of Imphal East, Imphal West and Kakching. Other KCP factions have also figured in Manipur’s unrest since 2023; cadres linked to the KCP (Noyon) faction were charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act over the looting of police armouries in the early days of the ethnic strife.

Tuesday’s surrender comes against the backdrop of a conflict between the Meitei and Kuki communities that has run for more than three years, killing hundreds and displacing tens of thousands since it erupted in May 2023. Former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party resigned in February 2025, after which President’s Rule was imposed on the state; Y. Khemchand Singh took over as chief minister in February 2026. Coverage of Tuesday’s ceremony was broadly consistent across outlets on the core facts, though national outlets such as ThePrint placed more emphasis on the Defence Ministry’s caveat that the faction remains intact in some form, while regional wire coverage leaned more heavily on the ceremonial and forward-looking statements from security officials.

Compiled from reporting by The Tribune, ThePrint, and The Sentinel Sentinel NE Desk cross-checked these accounts before publication. Coverage was consistent on the core facts, though ThePrint’s national-desk framing emphasized the Defence Ministry’s caveat that the faction is degraded but not dissolved, while regional wire coverage focused more on the ceremonial and forward-looking statements from officials. Video: Watch India Today NE’s coverage of the surrender ceremony.

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