Manipur

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 …

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 …

The WhatsApp Shadow Market for Cheap Military-Grade Weapons: How Illicit cross-border Arms Networks Exploit Divided Enforcement in Kuki-Dominated Regions of Manipur

Markets for military-grade weapons has moved beyond jungles, border trails and hidden depots into the digital realm in the Kuki-dominated districts of Manipur, where it is becoming disturbingly accessible. At the center of these allegations is a WhatsApp group brazenly titled “THAL ORDER”. According to sources familiar with its activity, the group functions less like a …

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 …

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 …

Gunpoint Extortion of Minor Boys and Girls: Rajasthan School Wushu Team Held Hostage by Kuki Terrorists While Travelling to National Games in Manipur

What should have been a celebratory journey for young athletes representing their state at a national sporting event turned into a traumatic ordeal involving armed extortion and hostage-taking, raising grave concerns about security, governance and the protection of children in conflict-affected regions of India. Members of the Rajasthan School Wushu Team were stopped, threatened at …

When Homes Were Demolished and Temples Fell Silent: The Ongoing Suffering and Loss of Dignity among Displaced indigenous Manipuris

Tens of thousands of indigenous Manipuris, predominantly Meitei civilians from districts such as Churachandpur, Moreh, Torbung, Ekou and adjoining areas have been violently uprooted from their homes and livelihoods and forced into prolonged internal displacement within their own state since 3rd May, 2023. What began as sudden, coordinated attacks rapidly transformed into one of India’s …

Land, Legitimacy and Armed Presence: How Kuki Claims and Encroachments Set the Stage for another Gunfight with Nagas in Manipur

A fresh gunfight in Manipur’s volatile hill districts has underscored how disputes over land, governance and armed authority are converging into a dangerous flashpoint. The Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF), an armed group representing Zeliangrong interests, has claimed responsibility for a military operation targeting what it described as Kuki underground camps near Kharam Vaiphei village in Kangpokpi …

Persecution Claims Abroad, Environmental Violations at Home: Kuki Groups Allege Minority Christian Persecution After NGT Halts Illegal Road Through Protected Forests

When environmental law finally caught up with an illegal road carved through protected forests in Manipur, the response from its patrons was not compliance — but diplomacy. Or, more precisely, performative minority diplomacy. A self-described Kuki Civil Society Organisation (CSO), The Kuki Alliance for Nampi Awakening Movement (KANAM) has written directly to the United States Embassy in New Delhi, …

When Roads close and Airfares turn predatory: The slow strangling of Imphal Valley’s residents and displaced victims

There is a particular kind of suffering that neither roars nor erupts, that makes no demands and seeks no spectacle. It simply endures. It settles into the bones of a people, day after day, until endurance itself becomes a sentence. That is the life forced upon the people of Manipur today — a population trapped …