The crisis began on Monday, June 15, near Leilon Vaiphei in Kangpokpi district, a region bordering a Naga village, Konsakhul. A suspected exchange of fire between Kuki-Zo and Naga groups left three young men injured. The victims were identified as Genlenmang Vaiphei, 18, Lunliandaw Vaiphei, 20, and Paogou Lal, 18. According to reports, one of the injured is a footballer associated with the Kolkata-based Mohun Bagan football club. Kuki groups described the three as “village volunteers,” a term used locally for armed village-based personnel, while opposing groups labelled them as militants.
Given the severity of their injuries, personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force and the Indian Army shifted the injured from the 183 Military Hospital in Leimakhong to RIMS in Imphal West, citing the hospital’s advanced medical infrastructure as the only facility capable of treating their conditions.
However, their admission triggered immediate outrage. Large groups of Meitei and Naga protesters gathered at the hospital gates, blocking access and demanding their removal. Tensions were further inflamed by recent violence linked to the May 13 abduction of six Naga residents from Konsakhul, whose bodies were recovered on June 10. The abduction site was the same area where the June 15 gunfight occurred, deepening mistrust between the communities.
Protesters alleged preferential treatment toward the Kuki-Zo community. Speaking to The Indian Express, Julia Shinglai of the Foothills Naga Coordination Committee accused authorities of facilitating “special treatment” for Kuki individuals, while restricting movement for others. Similar allegations were raised by TP Dining, Assembly Affairs Secretary of the All Naga Students’ Association, who claimed that state and central authorities had failed to protect Naga victims while quickly assisting the injured youths.
As demonstrations escalated, security forces deployed tear gas shells and resorted to lathicharge after protesters attempted to storm the hospital premises and seize the patients. The use of force within a medical facility drew sharp criticism from RIMS administration, which condemned the firing of explosive and smoke-related devices within hospital grounds, warning that such actions endangered patients, healthcare workers, and attendants.
The Kangpokpi-based Committee on Tribal Unity also condemned the blockade, asserting that RIMS is a public medical institution meant for all communities and warning against denying treatment to the injured.
By Tuesday night, June 16, the situation deteriorated further as stone-pelting incidents were reported and protesters insisted on handing over the patients. In response to the escalating threat, authorities conducted a heavily guarded midnight evacuation on Wednesday, June 17. The three injured youths were transferred approximately 60 kilometres from Imphal to the district hospital in Churachandpur, a Kuki-Zo-majority area, under strict security cover.
Reacting to the evacuation, Kuki Inpi Manipur expressed regret over what it described as the denial of access to essential medical care, stating that injured individuals should not be prevented from receiving treatment in critical facilities.
The developments at RIMS represent another flashpoint in Manipur’s continuing ethnic conflict, which has persisted since 2023 and resulted in over 260 deaths and widespread displacement. The latest confrontation, now involving Meitei, Kuki-Zo, and Naga communities, underscores the deepening complexity and volatility of the region’s security and humanitarian crisis.
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