Manipur
Despite the fact that tribal areas make up 90% of the state’s landmass, Kukis and Nagas note that the Meitei-dominated Imphal valley receives the lion’s share of its funding and development efforts. Each of these groups has its own goals and concerns, and recent events have rekindled old resentments.
Recent conflict between the Kuki-Zomi tribals and the mostly Hindu Meiteis is the state’s first direct encounter between two ethnic groups in three decades. When Hindu Meiteis and Pangals (Muslims) battled in 1993, there was horrifying violence involving the tribal Nagas and Kukis that resulted in the slaughter of more than a hundred Kukis in a single day and the eviction of thousands of people from their homes.
Manipur has 16 districts, however “valley” and “hill” districts are how most people conceptualise the state’s division. The present-day valley districts of Thoubal, Bishnupur, Imphal East, and Kakching were formerly a part of the kingdom of Kangleipak, which was controlled by the Ningthouja dynasty. The tribes, especially the Naga tribes, contest the historical and scholarly claims that the tribal lands outside the valley were also a part of the monarchy.
Skirts of low hills that extend into Nagaland and Mizoram surround the Manipur valley. The majority of Manipur’s land is made up of hills, where 15 Naga tribes as well as members of the Kuki, Thadou, Hmar, Paite, Vaiphei, and Zou peoples of the Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi group reside.
