Unpacking the brawl that sparked the Naga-Kuki conflict in Manipur

A pitch-dark road, a flash of torchlight, flaring tempers and a drunken brawl. On February 7 this year, a Manipur village that was until then spared from the ethnic violence that had engulfed much of the state became the site of an altercation that opened a new front of conflict.

The stretch where the brawl took place on February 7.What appeared to be a minor street tussle in a region besieged by brutality and bloodshed went on to expose decades-old Naga-Kuki fault lines, which were overshadowed at the time by the Meitei-Kuki conflict that erupted in 2023.

In the months that followed, violence spread across Manipur’s districts, with Nagas and Kukis ransacking villages, laying ambushes and mutilating bodies. The clashes have claimed 65 lives, including three in Noney district on Saturday, taking the overall death toll from ethnic violence in Manipur in three years to at least 363.

Thousands have been displaced. The events that unfolded that night in Litan village remain contested, with conflicting accounts of who started the fight and what followed. HT spoke to those involved in the brawl and witnesses to its immediate aftermath to reconstruct how a confrontation in an Ukhrul district village sparked a fresh wave of violence in Manipur.

Stalin Shimrey, a 48-year-old Naga man, said he had finished conducting tuition classes at his home around 5 pm and went to his friend Leishi Yui Kasar’s house, less than 100 metres away, to have a drink on that Saturday evening.

At 7 pm, the two stepped out as Shimrey prepared to return home. The stretch between their homes was shrouded in darkness, he said. “We saw our friend Akamboi across the road flashing a torchlight to help us. He was slightly drunk and waving the torch around.

The light fell on the faces of three Kuki men, who were also drunk. They got angry and confronted him,” Shimrey said. He said he and Kasar intervened, asking the men to leave. “They walked away while I stopped to buy paan at a shop,” Shimrey said.

But the men returned with more associates, he said. “They came back with seven or eight others and started beating Kasar. When I tried to intervene, someone punched me on the back of my head, and I fell to the ground,” he added.

People aware of the matter said Shimrey lay unconscious for around 30 minutes, bleeding from his face. A crowd gathered, and he was eventually taken to a hospital. Nemneikim Baite, a Kuki woman, disputed Shimrey’s account.

According to the 24-year-old, she, her husband Tonggoulen Baite and her brother Lungsanglen Baite were the only ones involved in the confrontation. “My brother was returning home after visiting us when Akamboi flashed a torch in his face.

Stalin and Kasar, whom I know, began abusing him,” she said. She said her brother called out for help. “When we came out, my brother was telling Kasar to go home, but they started hitting him. I tried to separate them by holding Kasar, while my husband held Lungsanglen.

Shimrey then joined the melee. My brother managed to free himself and punched Shimrey on the back of his head, causing him to fall. He hit the ground and started bleeding,” she said. Shimrey suffered a broken jaw and was admitted to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Imphal, roughly 39km away.

He remained hospitalised for around two months. HT tried to contact Lungsanglen, but his phone was switched off. Nemneikim said he was training for the army but did not disclose his location. Also Read | 17 Kuki militants under SoO deal arrested in Manipur; mismatch found in identities Inhabited by both Kukis and Nagas, Litan is nested in the hills of Ukhrul, a Naga-dominated district.

It had 192 houses before the clash and a population of nearly 1,000, with the residents employed mostly in the agriculture sector and continuing to remain entrenched in their traditions. Nemneikim said that under tribal custom, a fight takes a more serious tone when blood is spilt.

“The person who caused another tribal to bleed has to give an animal for sacrifice to the victim,” she said. Calling the police was never considered. “It was decided to settle the matter through customary tradition and not involve the police,” she said.

The same night, Naga elders approached the Kuki village chief, seeking to resolve the dispute through traditional means, people aware of the matter said. The following morning, however, the effort to broker a settlement ran into trouble.

From there, the two accounts of what happened again begin to diverge.