Weaponisation of Food During Ethnic Conflict in Manipur: A Political Economy and Human Security Perspective

The concept of food security and food as a fundamental human right is unequivocally acknowledged by international agreements and binding on the nation states. Weaponisation of food is an unethical and disturbing tactic which contravenes international humanitarian law and poses a grave threat to human dignity and lives. This paper examines weaponisation of food during the post–May 2023 ethnic conflict in Manipur, situating the state within broader global debates on food as a tool of coercion in intrastate and borderland conflicts. Drawing on political economy, human security, and structural violence frameworks, the study analyses how access to food and essential goods became strategically manipulated through highway blockades, market segmentation, and village-level mobility restrictions. Through secondary data the paper demonstrates that these mechanisms transformed everyday survival into a contested terrain, producing chronic and unevenly distributed food insecurity. Internally displaced persons, women, children, and the elderly were the vulnerable populations in such situations. The findings reveal that food insecurity in Manipur emerged less from overt starvation policy than from the control of infrastructure, securitisation of mobility, and the institutionalisation of slow, cumulative harm. This case challenges conventional distinctions between war and peace in food security scholarship, emphasizing the importance of human security approaches in low-intensity but protracted conflicts. Concerns under international humanitarian law and advocates for structural interventions, including de-politicised humanitarian corridors, protected market access, and civilian-centered infrastructure governance, to prevent the entrenchment of food insecurity as a tool of conflict are raised.