India

Inside Kangpokpi’s Armed Spectacle: How an Arms Ecosystem Circulates Weapons to Sustain Manipur’s Gun Culture

Young Kuki men openly posed and smiled for cameras while holding a pistol and what appeared to be an assault rifle during the inauguration ceremony of the Saparmeina Turf Ground in Kangpokpi district of Manipur on March 24. This was not a covert display. It unfolded in plain sight, in a public setting, with no …

Targeted Violence Against Three Hindu Families by a Muslim Mob in Tarakeshwar of West Bengal Highlights Deadly Link Between Online Rhetoric and Real-World Attacks

Tarakeswar, Hooghly | Garalgacha (Block No. 2)Date of Incident: March 18, 2026 A disturbing episode of communal unrest has emerged from the Garalgacha area of Tarakeswar, where a social media exchange allegedly escalated into targeted violence by a mob of Islamists against 3 Hindu families. The incident highlights a growing and dangerous phenomenon: the rapid …

Gunfire Without Consequence: Suspected Kuki Extremists Open Fire on Meitei Villagers Gathering Firewood on Imphal Valley’s Eastern Edge

Gunfire echoed from near the Changsang Hill on the northeastern edge of Imphal Valley at around 9.30 a.m. of 20th March and once again, no one was held accountable. Suspected armed Kuki militants opened fire on Meitei villagers collecting firewood near Pukhao village under the watch of CRPF and Manipur Police personnel, laying bare not …

Lashkar-Linked Terror Module Busted : 8 Islamists including a Bangladeshi National Arrested from Tamil Nadu and West Bengal

India has once again been reminded that the threat of terror is a persistent, adaptive reality and not a distant headline. In a coordinated operation spanning two states, security agencies arrested eight Islamists allegedly linked to the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba. According to officials, the arrests have potentially thwarted a larger conspiracy aimed at destabilizing …

Minor Shefali Barman commits suicide after Alleged Threats and Blackmail by Humayun Kabir Miyan — A Relationship Built on a Fake Identity Ends in Tragedy

On 12 February 2026, a fifteen-year-old girl named Shefali Barman died by suicide in Jamaldah under the jurisdiction of Mekhliganj Police Station in Cooch Behar. She was a Class X student of Jamaldah Tulsi Devi High School and had just appeared for her Madhyamik examination, a milestone meant to mark the beginning of her future. …

A Soldier Returns to his Homeland in Crisis : Lt. Gen (Retd.) L. Nishikanta Singh and the Struggle to Rebuild State Authority in Manipur

When a state is scarred by violence, institutional mistrust and the proliferation of arms, governments often turn to figures who embody discipline, credibility, and strategic clarity. That is the context in which L. Nishikanta Singh has been appointed Advisor (Coordination) to the Chief Minister of Manipur. A retired Lieutenant General of the Indian Army’s Intelligence Corps, Singh is …

Sibraikhung in Ruins: The Silent Erasure of Reang Shaivite Faith and the Unfinished Battle for Tripura’s Ancestral Soul by Dr. Ankita Dutta

Not many people outside the North-East might be aware of the fact that the Myanmar-origin “Kuki-Chin-Mizo” people have orchestrated at least 10 major attacks on the non-Christian indigenous tribes of Manipur, Tripura, Assam, and Mizoram since the early 1990s, with the objective of occupying their lands and changing the demography of the region. Most of …

Inclusive Optics, Hollow Power: The Narrow Possibilities and Hard Limits of State Governance in Manipur

The recent reconfiguration of Manipur’s political leadership has been presented by the Central Government as an exercise in inclusiveness as well as an attempt to restore balance, calm, and administrative credibility in a state devastated by nearly two years of ethnic violence and mass displacement. On the surface, the appointments appear carefully calibrated with a …

Fabricating Fear, Mobilising Mobs: The Dangerous Politics of Samim Laskar’s Online Agitation in Baruipur, West Bengal

In an era where a single social media post can mobilise crowds faster than any street-corner speech, the line between free expression and reckless incitement has never been thinner. That line appears to have been deliberately blurred by Samim Laskar — a Facebook influencer with over 10,000 followers, a public speaker, and a current resident …

Rape Threats, Land Seizure and a Body in the River: Two Incidents in 24 Hours re-emphasize the Precarious Existence of Hindu Minorities in Bangladesh

Two grave incidents occurring within a 24-hour period : An alleged violent land seizure accompanied by sexual threats against the the female family members of a Hindu Liberation War veteran and The recovery of a missing Hindu man’s body from a major river have renewed concerns regarding the safety of religious minorities in Bangladesh and …