Three years after riots tore apart Manipur, the state remains in disarray. Barbed wire and armed checkpoints made it difficult for Times reporters to cross, even before the recent clashes.
A fresh outbreak of ethnic conflict is rocking India’s remote eastern state of Manipur. Deadly ambushes, abductions and protest marches are cropping up in a land where such violence had already become routine.
In the past few weeks, the fighting between the Meitei and Kuki peoples has spilled over to embroil a third ethnic group, the Nagas. Kukis have clashed with Nagas in the hills of Manipur, amid disputes over rights of residence and control of the territory. More than a dozen people have been killed, including three Kuki church leaders who were shot in an ambush on May 13. Dozens have been kidnapped.
It is the most violent eruption in the region since May 2023, when clashes between the Kukis and the Meiteis killed hundreds. India’s government sent in paramilitary troops to suppress the fighting, which they achieved by severing the state into jagged parts.
Source: www.nytimes.com