Reporter’s Diary: I crossed ‘no man’s land’ in Manipur

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New Checkon is a bit of a mini-Manipur: a messy multiethnic mishmash. Perhaps it is only fitting then that this neighbourhood in the heart of capital Imphal now starkly reminds anyone passing through that Manipur’s multiculturalism is under grave threat – perhaps even the very idea of the state.

The Kukis who lived in the locality’s New Lambulane area are all gone. But that is almost a banal detail: nearly every Kuki neighbourhood in Meitei-dominated Imphal is deserted. More striking are the newly pasted pieces of paper on the entrances of non-Kuki properties, declaring their community affiliations. “Meitei shop”, “Bihari dukan”, “Pangal restaurant”, “Kabui home”. In short: not Kuki.

Madness has descended upon Manipur since May 3. Clashes between Meitei and Kuki communities have spiralled into a civil war. Such is its fury that on June 4 a mob torched an ambulance ferrying an injured child, even though his mother and aunt who were accompanying him were from the same community...

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