India, Oct. 20 -- The 48 hours between Saturday and Monday plunged Manipur into a new crisis, involving rare violence among all four of the state's major communities-Meiteis, Nagas, Kukis and Pangals-while members of a fifth community, Nepalis, were also trapped in the unrest.

It was in these 48 hours that for the first time, clashes broke out between the Meitei (Hindus) and Meitei Pangals (Muslims), leading to a death and the burning of houses, which prompted police to order a curfew. It was in these 48 hours that the Meitei-Kuki clashes resurfaced, after almost three months of no such violence between them, when three men were allegedly killed by Kuki militants.

While the state had recently been roiled by killings in the Naga-Kuki cla...