On the night of June 6, a 26-year-old teacher in Vengnuam, a village in Manipur's Jiribam district, received a call warning, “They are coming, hide.” Similar calls went out to other residents. Guite, the teacher, quickly instructed villagers to turn off their lights and phones and flee to a house near the forest. As they hid, they heard armed men, allegedly from the Arambai Tenggol militia, entering their village. The group fled into the forest, where Guite feared they would not survive. By morning, her house and church were in ashes, and a man was missing.

This incident highlights the deep ethnic tensions between the Hindu Meitei majority and the Christian Kuki-Zo tribe in Manipur, where over 220 lives have been lost and 67,000 people displaced. The violence intensified after the bodies of young men from both communities were found, leading to mutual accusations and retaliatory attacks.

The Indian National Congress recently won a parliamentary election in Manipur, seen as a rejection of the BJP, which has been blamed for the violence. However, hopes for peace were dashed for Guite and others as violence continued, casting doubt on the effectiveness of the electoral outcome in bringing stability to the region.