Nine killed as ethnic violence continues to grip India’s Manipur

At least 100 people have been killed and 40,000 displaced since May 3 in the BJP-ruled northeastern state.

At least nine people have been killed in the latest clashes between members of rival ethnic groups in India’s northeastern state of Manipur, police said, as security forces hunted for illegal weapons.

Violence between members of the Kuki ethnic group, who live primarily in the hills, and Meiteis, the dominant community in the lowlands, broke out on May 3, fueled by resentment over economic benefits and quotas in government jobs and education reserved for hill people.

At least 100 people have been killed and more than 40,000 displaced since May 3 in the remote Myanmar-border state controlled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), according to Indian media reports.

K Shivakanta Singh, a senior police official in the Imphal state capital, told reporters that a firefight between rival factions broke out on Tuesday and lasted for hours in Aigijang village along the border of Kangpokpi and Imphal East districts.

“We have reports of at least nine dead and ten injured so far,” Singh said. “The situation remains unstable.”

Reinforcements from federal security forces have been sent to the state looking for illegal weapons.

The Indian Express newspaper reported that a daylong easing in a curfew in the area was reduced to four hours after the latest violence.

Civil society organizations from the Meitei and Kuki communities have refused to join a peace committee set up by the federal government to bring about peace.

On May 3, members of the hill tribes, including the Kuki, launched a protest against the possible extension of their benefits to the dominant Meiteis.

Meiteis accounts for half of Manipur’s population and granting them limited affirmative action quotas would give them a share in education and government jobs reserved for Kukis and others.

Manipur shares a nearly 400 km (250 mi) border with Myanmar and a coup there in 2021 pushed thousands of refugees into the Indian state.

Kukis share their ethnic ancestry with Myanmar’s Chin community and Meiteis feared they would be outnumbered by the arrival of the refugees.