Manipur’s descent into civil war: How Scroll reported on a year of deadly violence

Exactly a year ago, ethnic clashes erupted in Manipur – the start of a murderous civil war between dominant Meiteis and tribal Kuki-Zos that has left at least 227 dead, and 70,000 displaced. It has also underlined the Indian state’s helplessness in bringing peace to the strife-torn state.

For a year now, Manipur has been in the grip of lawlessness and ethnic hatred – mobs have looted armouries with impunity, the houses of ministers have been attacked, pellet guns used on protestors, women sexually assaulted and humiliated through videos, even ambulances carrying children not spared. Despite the deadly violence on his watch, Chief Minister N Biren Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party has remained in the saddle.

Within 24 hours of clashes breaking out on May 3, 2023, Scroll was on the ground. Since then, we have doggedly followed this story – even when other newsrooms have taken their eyes off the ball.

The initial spark

As Scroll readers who followed our reporting in the months preceding the conflict would know, Manipur’s crisis was not made in a single day.

The state had been in a ferment for months before, as we laid out here and here and here.

In March, the Kuki-Zo community organised several marches to protest the clearing of villages from what the government...

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