From the courtyard of his home in Taphou Kuki, village chief Lenkhomang Chongloi looks out across the green hills at the neighbouring houses of Taphou Liangmai. A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) contingent is now permanently stationed inside his residence, where fresh bullet marks scar the exterior wall.
“It is like Kargil, like India and Pakistan,” says Chongloi, describing the hostility between the adjacent settlements.
What might once have sounded like hyperbole has become everyday reality in heavily militarised Manipur. More than three years of ethnic conflict have hardened regional schisms, turning long-time neighbours into adversaries. While the crisis initially erupted between Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities in May 2023, the violence has expanded into a dangerous second front between Kuki and Naga populations along the district boundary of Kangpokpi and Senapati.
The physical divide between Taphou Kuki and Taphou Liangmai—located roughly 65 km from the state capital Imphal along National Highway 2—is marked by security barricades. Beyond the checkpoints, farms, homes, and slopes blur together seamlessly across the landscape, but social contact has completely broken down.
Api Pamai, a 35-year-old resident of Taphou Liangmai, points across to Chongloi’s home, where his former classmate—Chongloi’s son—lives.
“We grew up together. I have many friends on that side. Since May, we are not on talking terms. We see their WhatsApp statuses but do not respond. The situation has changed,” Pamai says.
The broader ethnic strife in Manipur has killed more than 300 people and displaced around 60,000 since May 2023. Official state figures placed the death toll at 306 as of August 31, with additional fatalities recorded since.
While Nagas largely remained neutral during the initial phases of the Meitei-Kuki violence, historical rivalries over land, settlement rights, and political administration—which previously led to bloodshed in the 1990s—reignited earlier this year. An assault on a Tangkhul Naga man in Ukhrul district on February 7 triggered initial skirmishes, followed by a major escalation in May and June involving ambushes and retaliatory abductions.
On May 13, three Kuki-Zo church leaders were killed in an ambush in Kangpokpi district. In the aftermath, villagers from both communities were seized across Kangpokpi and Senapati. While some captives were freed early on, six Naga men went missing, and Naga groups detained 14 Kuki men in demand of their return.
On June 9, the 14 Kuki men were released after nearly a month in captivity. The following day, security forces recovered the bodies of the six missing Naga men. The disparity in outcomes remains a flashpoint in how each side views the escalation.
“We abducted their people from Senapati after they abducted our people,” says Benwang Bo, general secretary of the Liangmai Naga Council. “We took good care of their people and eventually released them, but they killed six of our men.”
Chongloi gives a different context to the initial encounters, recalling how 25 Kuki villagers were intercepted in Senapati following news of the church leaders' deaths. “After we informed the police, they were nearly brought back to the village. But they were intercepted again and taken back to Senapati despite the presence of police.”
Tensions escalated further along the Imphal-Tamenglong Road (IT Road), a vital transit corridor passing through mixed areas. On August 27, an ambush along the IT Road left four Naga men dead. Ahzapou MK, a survivor who fled into the forest and hid for hours during the attack, accuses Kuki groups of premeditated action.
“They were waiting to wage this war,” Ahzapou says. He further challenges Kuki land claims in the area: “They are outsiders. Even the name Taphou is a Naga name to which they have added Kuki.”
Kuki residents strongly reject the "outsider" label, asserting historical rights to the region and describing their military preparedness as pure self-defence. Minthang, a village volunteer in Taphou Kuki who once had Naga friends, notes that current residents possess automatic weapons to avoid repeating the heavy losses suffered by older generations during the 1990s clashes.
On the Naga side, Bo alleges systematic attempts to push Liangmai residents out of minority pockets along the IT Road, claiming 108 homes have been destroyed by arson—a figure that could not be independently verified. “They want to take over land,” Bo alleges.
Subsequent retaliatory violence quickly followed: three Kuki villagers, including two women, were killed in an attack on N Teikhang on August 31, and several Liangmai settlements faced armed assaults and arson in early September.
“As long as Nagas are holding arms, the Kukis also have to keep arms for their defence,” says Ginza Vualjong, chief spokesperson of the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF). Vualjong maintains that security deployments alone will not bring peace without political restructuring, advocating for a separate Union Territory with a legislature for Kuki-inhabited areas.
“We will sit together and decide which village has to be on our side, which village has to be on their side,” Vualjong says, proposing direct talks with Naga leaders and the Centre to handle non-contiguous territories similar to Puducherry.
However, a senior government official confirmed that while Kuki groups have advanced proposals for a Union Territory, "the government is not considering any move that will affect Manipur's territorial integrity."
Local leaders also emphasise that the conflict does not involve all Naga communities. Ng Lun Kipgen, spokesperson for the Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), clarifies the scope of the tension: “Only the Tangkhul and Liangmai Naga tribes are involved in the conflict with us. There are villages of Naga tribes such as Thangal and Mao living in peace in Kangpokpi and other districts, next to Kuki settlements.”
Despite visits from state officials—including Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh, who visited Taphou Kuki on July 8 to arrange security posts—fear restricts ordinary movement. National Highway 2 remains fraught with risk; Kuki residents fear travelling north toward Naga-dominated Senapati, while travel south to the Meitei-majority Imphal valley requires armed escorts.
Reflecting on the government intervention, Chongloi notes: “In July, the CM visited and we requested that a CRPF camp be set up. Only then was it set up in my house.”
Regarding the specific outbreaks around Taphou in August, Chongloi alleges that firing was directed at his village and three homes were burned without any subsequent arrests. Bo counters the claim directly: “Rather, it is the contrary. They attacked us.”
As political negotiations remain stalled, the physical conflict continues to fracture long-standing personal relationships. From his fortified residence, Chongloi watches a border that feels like an international war zone, while across the divide, Pamai looks over at his former classmate's home—where social media updates are still delivered, but silence prevails.