Deserted Manipur Village Set on Fire in Kamjong: 48-Hour Strike Shuts Imphal Markets

Short answer: Claims that violence in Manipur is limited to old Meitei-Kuki conflict lines are contradicted by expanding inter-tribal clashes. On Wednesday morning, October 21, 2026, suspected militants set fire to the abandoned Khoikai Kuki village in Kamjong district. The arson prompted a 48-hour general strike called by the Native People’s Committee Manipur that completely shuttered Imphal’s historic Khwairamband Ema Keithel market.

1. Dawn arson at Khoikai Kuki village

Around 5:30 AM on Wednesday, armed assailants entered Khoikai Kuki village, situated near Chassad in Kamjong district, and set several houses ablaze. Police confirmed that the settlement had been completely deserted weeks earlier after residents fled escalating fighting.

The arson reflects an intensifying tribal friction in the hill districts bordering Myanmar. While early conflict centered on the Imphal valley perimeter, remote hill tracts have witnessed renewed territorial clashes between Kuki and Naga communities.

District authorities reported that forensic teams and police reinforcements were dispatched to assess structural damage, though the remote terrain and road blockades delayed immediate verification of the perpetrators.

2. The expanding Kuki-Naga friction

The Kamjong attack highlights a dangerous secondary axis in Manipur’s instability. Since February 2026, clashes between Kuki and Naga tribal groups have claimed roughly 50 lives across the hill districts of Tamenglong, Noney, Kangpokpi, Ukhrul, and Kamjong.

This inter-tribal friction operates alongside the primary valley-hill conflict that erupted on May 3, 2023. Official government figures presented to the Manipur Legislative Assembly in September show that the overall conflict has killed at least 306 individuals, left 49 missing, and displaced more than 60,000 residents, with 24,000 citizens still living in makeshift relief camps.

The compounding violence has disrupted food logistics, firewood collection, and interstate transit corridors, leaving peripheral villages isolated from basic administrative oversight.

3. Valley shutdowns and the plea for President’s Rule

In the valley, civil society organizations responded to the recurring attacks with broad economic strikes. The Native People’s Committee Manipur enforced a 48-hour general strike across Imphal, while tribal bodies in Kangpokpi launched a parallel 24-hour shutdown.

Photographs from Imphal showed the historic Khwairamband Ema Keithel, one of the world’s largest all-women operated marketplaces, standing entirely desolate with shuttered stalls and empty corridors.

Against this backdrop, the Kuki-Zo Women’s Forum submitted a formal petition seeking the reimposition of President’s Rule. The forum argued that the current state administration has failed to provide impartial protection, declaring that the crisis is fundamentally political rather than a tactical security problem. Similar patterns of institutional gridlock and public distrust have been analyzed across our coverage of regional political mathematics and state civil crackdowns.

Sources to check yourself

• The Hindu: Ground coverage of the Khoikai Kuki village arson and the Ema Keithel market strike (October 21, 2026).
• The Hindu: Documentation of the Kuki-Zo Women’s Forum appeal for President’s Rule.
• Manipur Legislative Assembly: Official casualty ledgers and displaced person census data.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Where is Khoikai Kuki village located? A: Khoikai Kuki village is situated near Chassad in the hill district of Kamjong, along Manipur’s eastern border area.

Q: Why was Khoikai village abandoned before the fire? A: Villagers had fled earlier after armed clashes erupted between Kuki and Naga groups across the district, leaving the residential structures empty when attackers arrived.

Q: What impact did the general strike have on Imphal? A: The 48-hour strike called by the Native People’s Committee Manipur paralyzed commercial activity, shuttering major markets including the historic Khwairamband Ema Keithel and restricting transport across valley routes.