Historical, Legal, and Economic Perspectives on the Kabo Valley Dispute Between Manipur and Myanmar

Abstract

North-East India occupies a strategically vital position in South and South-East Asian geopolitics, with Manipur historically serving as a political and cultural bridge between the Indian subcontinent and Myanmar. This paper critically examines the historical, legal, political, and economic dimensions of the Kabo Valley, a territory whose status has remained deeply contested despite its long association with Manipur. Drawing on indigenous chronicles, colonial administrative records, treaties, and principles of international law, the study traces the incorporation of the Kabo Valley into Manipur during the reign of Meitingu Kyamba in the fifteenth century and the subsequent formalisation of Manipur’s eastern boundary through diplomatic agreement with the King of Pong. The analysis demonstrates that the Treaty of Yandaboo (1826), while restoring Manipur’s sovereignty under King Gambhir Singh, created deliberate ambiguity regarding the eastern boundary. This ambiguity was later exploited by British colonial authorities, culminating in the administrative transfer of the Kabo Valley to Burma in 1834. Crucially, the continued payment of Sicca Rs. 500 per month to Manipur until 1949 indicates that this transfer was conditional in nature and consistent with a lease rather than a permanent cession of sovereignty. From a legal perspective, the absence of a mutually ratified treaty explicitly ceding the Kabo Valley, together with principles of international law governing territorial leases and sovereignty, suggests that Manipur’s residual sovereignty was never lawfully extinguished. The study further highlights the substantial economic consequences of the loss of the Kabo Valley, a resource-rich region comparable in size to present-day Manipur. The discontinuation of compensation following Manipur’s merger with India resulted in enduring economic losses. By situating the dispute within the broader context of Indo–Myanmar relations and India’s Act East Policy, the paper argues that the Kabo Valley issue represents not merely a historical grievance but an unresolved legal and economic question. A renewed legal and diplomatic re-examination is therefore essential for historical justice, regional reconciliation, and sustainable peace in Manipur and North-East India.