RETURN TO ANARCHY

CENTRAL AND STATE INACTION HAS LED TO A RENEWED FLARE-UP IN VIOLENCE IN MANIPUR. THE DIVISIONS GO MUCH DEEPER NOW, PEACE SEEMS THAT MORE UNATTAINABLE

- KAUSHIK DEKA

If Manipur had begun to slip from the nation's consciousness, September served up a brutal reminder of just how fragile the situation still is in the war-torn state. On the first day of the month, violent clashes erupted-this time between armed groups of the Kuki-Zo and the security forces-along the fraught boundary separating the Meitei-dominated Imphal West and the Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi districts. In the days that followed, fresh clashes between ethnic factions engulfed areas like Jiribam and Bishnupur, leaving at least seven dead. The violence has even invaded spaces meant for dialogue, with Jiribam-a site of recent peace talks between Meitei and Hmar leaders (a sub-group of the larger Kuki-Zo community)-becoming a battlefield. The arsenal of violence has escalated dangerously, with Kuki insurgents allegedly deploying weaponised drones and rocket-propelled grenades, marking a new and chilling phase in the conflict (see Manipur's Flying Threats...).

As though on cue, the horrors of Manipur's first phase of ethnic strife, which ignited on May 3 last year, have resurfaced in full force. Internet services have been severed, armouries looted, and the streets are once again roiling with protesters. The bitter rivalry between the Meitei and Kuki communities sparked by a court order that sought to extend the Kukis' special economic privileges to the Meiteis - has only deepened.