Why ethnic violence in India’s Manipur has been going on for three months
Al JazeeraThe dispute stems from animosity between the state’s mainly Hindu Meitei majority and the predominantly Christian Kuki-Zo. At least 150 people have been killed since May in ethnic violence in Manipur, a remote state in northeast India with a history of tensions between tribal groups. The dispute stems from animosity between Manipur’s Meitei majority and the Kuki-Zo, one of several tribal groups in the state that make up about 16 percent of its population. The Meitei are predominantly Hindu and largely live in capital Imphal and the prosperous valley around it, while the mainly Christian Kuki-Zo usually live in scattered settlements in the state’s hills. Human Rights Watch has accused state authorities in Manipur, led by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, of facilitating the conflict with “divisive policies that promote Hindu majoritarianism”.