Ethnic conflict drags on in Manipur in India’s north-east

M anipur is a state of fertile valleys and lush green hills on the border with Myanmar in India’s north-east, and home to some 3m people. For the past two months it has also been the site of a deadly and uncompromising flare-up in one of Asia’s longest-running ethnic conflicts. Though violence is currently subsiding, there seems to be little political will to resolve the underlying conflict, which could boil over again at any time.Listen to this story.

The violence pits the state’s majority-Hindu Meitei community against its hill tribes, chiefly Christian Kukis. The Meitei, who dominate the valley, including the capital, Imphal, have long claimed that Kukis have been unfairly privileged by their tribal status. The Kukis oppose demands by the Meitei to be included in the state’s list of “scheduled tribes”, which would expand their access to government jobs allocated by tribal quotas, and allow them to settle in tribal areas. Kukis fear this would further strengthen Meitei economic dominance and threaten their own already limited livelihoods.