Manipur: Fresh violence erupted in Manipur’s Bishnupur district late Tuesday evening, shattering tentative peace efforts and triggering fresh fears of displacement, just hours after internally displaced persons were resettled in the area.

According to official sources, unidentified armed assailants opened fire and launched projectiles using locally made bomb launchers, commonly known as Pompi, from hill areas of Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district. The attack targeted fringe Meitei villages of Phougakchao Ikhai and Torbung in Bishnupur.

The timing could not have been more sensitive. The firing began only hours after the Director General of Police concluded a high-level security review in Churachandpur and barely a day after 389 Meitei IDPs from 97 families were officially resettled in the affected villages.

Security personnel returned fire, leading to an exchange that lasted nearly an hour before reinforcements brought the situation under control. While no casualties were reported, several properties were damaged, and panic spread among recently rehabilitated families. During subsequent combing operations, joint security teams recovered three Pompi launchers from agricultural fields in nearby Kuki-dominated areas.

The incident has triggered sharply opposing narratives. Meitei residents and civil society organisations alleged the attack was a deliberate attempt by Kuki militants to sabotage rehabilitation efforts and force renewed displacement.

The Kuki-Zo Council, however, expressed grave concern over the resettlement itself, describing the Torbung area as a buffer zone and terming the move provocative, particularly during the Christmas season.

As tensions escalated, a group of women activists announced an indefinite bandh across Manipur. They stated that protests would continue until a formal and mutually accepted agreement is reached between the Meitei and Kuki communities to end the ongoing conflict.

Separately, Samarou Naorem Apunba Meira Paibi and Samarou IDP members launched a scathing attack on the central government. The organisation’s secretary, Oinam Chaoba Chanu, accused the Centre of pursuing a divide-and-rule approach and failing to prevent repeated attacks. He also highlighted the absence of a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for thousands of IDPs who have spent over three years in relief camps.

Amid the renewed unrest, the Union government extended the tenure of the Commission of Inquiry probing the 2023 Manipur ethnic violence. A notification issued on December 16 extended the panel’s deadline to May 20, 2026. Headed by former Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Ajai Lamba, this marks the fifth extension granted to the commission tasked with examining the causes, spread, and administrative lapses linked to the violence that began in May 2023.

The extension comes against the backdrop of recent political engagements, including separate meetings of Meitei and Kuki BJP MLAs with the party’s central leadership in New Delhi, as well as tripartite talks involving the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kuki militant groups under the Suspension of Operations agreement.

Additional security forces have since been deployed in Bishnupur, and investigations are underway. Yet the attack has raised uncomfortable questions about security preparedness in buffer zones, the effectiveness of ongoing peace initiatives, and perceived asymmetries in disarmament.

For families who had only just returned home, the fear of being displaced once again now looms large, underscoring the fragile gap between political dialogue and the volatile realities on the ground in Manipur.