MANIPUR, India: Indian police have arrested 33 people in Manipur after a resurgence of ethnic violence between the Hindu Meitei majority and the Christian Kuki community. The state has been under a curfew and Internet blackout following fresh clashes that erupted this month, resulting in at least 11 deaths, including casualties from insurgents firing rockets and dropping bombs with drones.
Ethnic conflict in Manipur, which borders Myanmar, began in May 2023 and has since claimed at least 200 lives. Communities have splintered into rival groups, and tensions remain high despite months of relative calm. Authorities have re-imposed an Internet shutdown in several areas, similar to a blackout that lasted months last year, to curb the violence.
Hundreds of Meitei protesters in Imphal, the state capital, defied curfew orders on Tuesday, demanding that security forces take decisive action against Kuki insurgent groups, whom they accuse of instigating the latest attacks. The violence has deepened longstanding tensions over land and public job competition between the Meitei and Kuki communities.
Rights activists accuse local leaders of exploiting these ethnic divisions for political gain. Manipur, governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has witnessed severe unrest, displacing around 60,000 people since last year, many of whom have yet to return home.
