KANGPOKPI, India — As deadly ethnic violence has rocked Manipur, northeast India, for the past four months, two dozen residents of the state capital, Imphal, have refused to leave their homes, even as hundreds more have fled.
Reverend Prim Vaiphei and 23 others say they saw houses burned and read about their Kuki-Zo tribal brothers being attacked, even lynched, as fighting broke out with the majority Meitei. Many Kukis ran towards the mountainous districts. But those who held out entrenched themselves in the New Laambulane area of Imphal and barricaded themselves. “We were in Imphal, but it was more like a fort that nobody could access,” Vaiphei told Nikkei Asia.