It began in May last year as a disorderly, spontaneous reaction to a “Tribal Solidarity March” in Manipur’s hill districts as a protest against tribal status for the state’s majority Meitei community. Sixteen months later, the violence continues, but it seems more organised and quite military, with drones, rockets, ambushes, abductions and killings anew. Indeed, it seems to be fast reaching insurgency status, if the reports are correct. On September 1, Kourtok village in I