The ethnic strife in Manipur has now moved deep into the hill districts, pitting the Kuki-Zo and the Naga communities against each other. There has been very little respite from the violent conflict between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zo communities that erupted in May 2023, claimed around 300 lives, and displaced close to 60,000 people. Against this backdrop, the old fault line between the Nagas and the Kuki-Zos, which led to violent clashes in the 1990s, has resurfaced. At least nine people were killed in the latest outbreak of violence across the hill districts over a 24-hour period beginning on the night of October 9.

Over the past three and a half years, despite the political and administrative changes in the form of the imposition of President’s Rule, a change of chief minister, and the (re)emergence of stakeholders in the conflict, two things have remained constant: The persistence of violent conflict and the inability of both the state and the Union governments to deal effectively........

© Indian Express