India, Nov. 1 -- 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.

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 distr...