An apex Naga students’ body in Manipur on Friday (June 26, 2026) said the “so-called apology” issued by the Kuki-Zo Council (KZC) on the killing of six Naga civilians was unacceptable.

The All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (ANSAM), also criticised the apex Kuki-Zo body for using a derogatory term — Kacha Naga — while referring to the six slain people from the Liangmai Naga community. Kacha means ‘raw’.

On Thursday (June 25), the KZC said it regretted the killing of the six Naga civilians abducted from Kangpokpi district’s Leilon Vaiphei village after three Thadou church leaders were ambushed and killed on May 13.

The Thadous are divided about their identity as Kukis. A section claims they are a distinct community, while another insists they belong to the greater Kuki group.

The ANSAM said the KZC “regret” was neither an apology nor an admission of the “unlawful and inhumane” crime. “On the contrary, it is tantamount to a direct challenge and insult to the Naga people and reflects an alarming disposition of arrogance and perceived supremacy…,” it said.

‘Not demonstrative remorse’

The students’ body also said that the use of a pejorative for the victims revealed a “disturbing persistence of prejudice and communal disdain” and not “demonstrative remorse”.

“The Association categorically asserts that no apology can be deemed credible, sincere, and acceptable until the perpetrators responsible for the abduction, torture, mutilation, and brutal killing of the six innocent Naga hostages are identified, apprehended, and punished in accordance with the rule of law,” the ANSAM said in a statement.

The association pointed out that the Nagas have no access to or influence over the areas between the Kuki-dominated Kotzim and Kotlen villages of Kangpokpi district, where the three church leaders were killed. “Any attempt to implicate the Nagas in that incident is entirely baseless, malicious, and intended solely to manufacture communal animosity through misinformation,” it said.

Urging the Centre and the Manipur Government to bring the killers of the six Naga civilians to book, the ANSAM said “genuine reconciliation (with Kukis) can only emerge from truth, accountability, respect for identity, admittance of the historical facts, and the uncompromising administration of justice”.