Manipur – literally translated as “Land of Jewels” – has thousands of years of recorded history and a written constitution dating back to 12th century. Today, the state has a population of 3.3 million representing 34-plus Indigenous communities belonging to multiple faiths, cultures, languages, and traditions, all of whom have been co-existing for centuries.
Yet today Manipur is best known for the ongoing bloodshed. Violence first broke out in the state on May 3, 2023. What started as a protest rally in Kuki dominated areas opposing the demand for Scheduled Tribe status for the Meitei Indigenous Peoples spiraled into open warfare that is now threatening the territorial boundaries of the state. Over 258 people have been killed and over 70,000 displaced, while 10,000 homes have been burned. At least 34 people remain missing.
Amid the crisis, the state assembly was put under “suspended animation” and president’s rule was imposed on February 13, 2025.
The past 21 months have been Manipur’s darkest time, unparalleled in recent history. Innocent civilians – including children and the elderly – have been shot dead. Heavily armed militias have emerged that deliberately target women, children, and the elderly in vulnerable peripheral villages.
The violence also led to a war online, with both troll armies and organized disinformation campaigns unleashing hate speech.
What Is the Way Forward for Manipur?
In a statement to Indian Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attempted to counter the narrative of government inaction. He stated that more than 11,000 First Information Reports (FIRs) have been registered and over 500 people arrested in the Manipur polycrisis.
However, till today, the healing is yet to begin, and displaced families have yet to return home. The question now remains to be asked what happens to Manipur during – and perhaps more importantly, after – the president’s rule? What are the steps forward for sustainable peace and normalcy to return to the state and its people? War is expensive so who is arming, training and funding the violence in a state where close to close to 40 percent who are living in poverty?
To understand the situation that Manipur is currently in, we must first understand its history. For 75 long years, those who make India’s national syllabus have blanked out the rich history of Manipur and indeed all of Northeast India. In ancient times, Manipur was a part of the Silk Route and at times fought Chinese and Burmese incursions. Yet most of India fails to understand the historical context and geostrategic importance of Manipur. Many mainstream narratives around the 2023 Manipur violence are rooted in this shallow understanding, and thus have not helped in mitigating the polycrisis.
Worse, this could hurt India’s national security in the sensitive Northeast region, which shares borders with Myanmar, China, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. A look at a map should the Northeast region’s importance to India clear. Restoring peace to Manipur is critical for maintaining stability in this geostrategically vital region.
A map of India with the state of Manipur highlighted. Map via Depositphotos.
How can peace be achieved?
Ceasefire and Disarmament
First, a ceasefire must immediately be initiated in Manipur. The path to reconciliation will not be easy, but is it is possible, and the first steps should be for all warring communities to lay down their arms.
A demilitarization and disarmament process must follow. The Manipur violence that erupted in May 2023 also gave rise to a phenomenon not witnessed before – the open carrying and flaunting of highly sophisticated weapons, which is against the law in India. This must stop.
The current conflict in Manipur has featured the use of everything from 9 mm pistols to heavy caliber (70mm) rocket launchers and improvised grenade launchers. Even armed drones have flooded into the state. Security forces routinely recover explosives, gelatin sticks, and detonators. Several communities have armed their youth and indoctrinated them to use violence in the name of self-defense. Adding to the problem are various armed groups, who have been operating across national boundaries.
For genuine peace to return, authorities must work toward disarmament. The guns must be laid down and the youth who have been recruited to defend their villages allowed to return home, resume their studies, and continue with their professional life.
Reconciliation: Multiethnic and Multireligious Fabric of Manipur
Next, there must be genuine peace talks – not meetings held behind closed doors only with armed groups. Any peace process must include civil society, including the Indigenous women of Manipur.
Throughout the history of Manipur, Indigenous women have been at forefront of powerful nonviolent movements to defend their multiethnic, multireligious, and multicultural way of life. To cite one recent example, during the current violence in Manipur, the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network worked with hundreds of relief camps set up in the state to make “Peace Gardens,” where displaced people can grow seasonal vegetables to supplement nutrition, earn a living, and being to heal. The Network also gave “Peace Scholarships” to children and youth who are affected by the violence and supported women with weaving, tailoring, food processing, and basket weaving.
The women of Manipur are vital stakeholders in the struggle to end the conflict; over the past decades, some 20,000 women have been widowed in Manipur alone. It’s time to put women at the forefront of peacebuilding efforts.
During president’s rule, the government of India must ensure that truly representative peace committees are formed in all the communities. People-to-people dialogue, peace committees and peace congregations must be held and steps taken to ensure that the stories, histories, cultures, festivals of the people are shared for peace and harmony.
A Manipur Truth and Reconciliation Commission must be established. Those who commit war crimes and crimes against humanity – in violation of both Indian and international law – must be held accountable.
Historical records show that Manipur has always been a multiethnic, multireligious state. Moving forward will require meaningful Indigenous approaches to peacebuilding that work for all. The state’s fabric of being a multicultural and multireligious state be maintained. The broken and burnt places of worship of all communities must be rebuilt, – including the houses of many Indigenous people, as their worship is done within their own homes. All sacred sites must be protected.
End Transnational Organized Crime
Manipur is a sensitive state that shares an international border with Myanmar. In Manipur’s immediate region, including neighboring Myanmar and India’s Northeast, over 70 armed groups are operating, with new militia groups rising. It’s imperative that Indian security forces safely guard the border to prevent further fueling of the conflict through transnational trafficking of guns, drugs, and people by these groups and organized crime syndicates.
Manipur has become a major point in the international drug trade. What was once known as the “Golden Triangle Area” – referencing the border areas of Myanmar, Laos, Thailand – has long been a hotspot for heroin and other narcotics. That has now expanded to a “Golden Pentagon” with parts of Manipur and Northeast India becoming poppy cultivation areas. In addition, according to the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime, organized crime groups are pushing more synthetic drugs like crystal meth and Yaba from Myanmar into Northeast India.
After the closure of Moreh in Manipur due to the violence in 2023, the neighboring state of Mizoram is now becoming the new drug trafficking route, with seizures of narcotic drugs increasing on a regular basis.
The connection between narco-traffickers and armed politics in the region is known to many. Some openly wonder if the current conflict was engineered to protect drug trafficking and production. This issue must be tackled with extreme urgency as part of the effort to secure a lasting peace.
As part of this, it is critical that the borders of India’s Northeast are secured. Following the Manipur violence, the Ministry of Home Affairs communicated that the “Protected Area Regime” has been reimposed in Manipur, restricting the legitimate entry of foreigners to these states. The Manipur state government in a statement said that the restrictions came “in light of mounting security concerns arising from influx from neighboring countries.” It noted, “With this reimposition, the movement of foreigners visiting Manipur will be stringently monitored, and they are required to obtain the necessary Protected Area Permit (PAP) in accordance with the Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order, 1958.”
Support Survivors and Displaced Communities
As law and order returns to the state, authorities must ensure proper care is provided for survivors of the violence, including displaced communities. Manipur’s own people, especially the youth, must form the soul of any effort toward peacemaking in the state, and efforts to help them heal, mentally and physically, must be strengthened.
There are currently over 70,000 internally displaced people from Manipur living in 300-plus relief camps, whether in Manipur or other states. Of late, suicide rates have ticked upward amid a prevailing sense of despair in the camps. Work must be immediately taken up for their psychosocial support and mental health before further lives are lost.
In 2024, the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network worked with expert mental health practitioners to conduct a series of workshops to help heal lives in camps for internally displaced people, which was appreciated by many survivors. Besides workshops for health and healing, the Network has also conducted Indigenous music classes and painting classes to give hope and healing for affected communities. This is the need of the hour.
Empower Indigenous Peacebuilding
The rise of violence in Manipur comes amid an alarming surge in armed conflicts around the world. To understand Manipur is to understand what is happening to worldwide, as there is close correlation between conflict and climate too. Some 80 percent of world’s conflicts are currently happening in biodiversity hotspots where Indigenous peoples reside.
Manipur and, more broadly, the India-Myanmar border falls within a global biodiversity hotspot. Yet the area is also rich in minerals and other natural resources. and home to over several indigenous groups. Policymakers in the country must look into these issues to tackle the root cause of violence in the region.
The healing of both peoples and planet will come about only when Indigenous peoples are included and their wisdom and ways of life are woven into methods of conflict resolution. The medicine, science, arts, and sports of the Indigenous peoples of Manipur provide critical pathways not only for peace, but for protecting people and Mother Nature.
Manipur’s Indigenous peoples have practiced peaceful coexistence in the past centuries. They traditionally live close to nature, as in the Manipur faith system the Earth is revered as the source of their survival and subsistence. According to the ancient text of chants called Umanglon, or the “Dialectics of the Forest,” the human body is as much a cosmic composition as a tree or a stone or any other object interacting and coexisting in the same universe.
Healing in Manipur Is Possible
In the darkest times, we sometimes find the greatest light. Our hearts are broken to see what is happening to Manipur. Yet during the past 21 months, we have also been seeing extraordinary hope within local people who rise above the challenges they are facing. it is this hope that will guide people out of the current violence.
In Manipur, India and the world must protect the rights of Indigenous peoples to chart their own futures and live in peace and dignity. Local and national peace efforts must therefore include the affected Indigenous peoples to bring about the peace and healing that is urgently needed. Nothing enduring can be built on entrenched violence. We must collectively find pathways for peaceful coexistence.
A world beyond wars is possible. We can and must all strive together to achieve this with genuine effort from every community.