The Barak River flows due north in the valley from Tipaimukh, turning west near Jirimukh, about 10 km south of Jiribam.

Thus the eastern portion of the Jiribam valley came under the control of Manipur, while the rest remained under Cachar which became part of Assam.

[6] The Manipur state government decided to open the valley for agricultural settlement in 1907,[5] and by 1911, 14,346 bighas of land is said to have been settled.

[21] According to multiple sources, the proscribed Meitei insurgent groups, United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and People's Liberation Army of Manipur (PLA), used the Jiribam valley and the neighbouring Cachar district of Assam as their main area of operations.

[22][23] The region was originally used by Meitei insurgent groups in the 1960s as a launching pad to access the training camps run by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh).

[24] Security expert E. M. Rammohan states that the hilly region bounded by NH-37[c] in the north, Thangjing Hills in the east, Tipaimukh Road in the south, and the Jiribam–Tipaimukh Road on the west, was a "free zone", with minimal presence of security forces, which was adopted by UNLF, PLA and Hmar People's Convention–Democracy for setting up camps and bases.

[25] The PLA and UNLF are said to have entered this area after the Kuki-Naga conflict (in the 1990s) by helping resettle the displaced Kukis in Churachandpur district and obtaining land in return.

[29][30] The local people also credited the 7th India Reserve Battalion (IRB) forces stationed at Uchathol and Jakuradhor for establishing peace in Jiribam district.

[33] At the time of the 2011 census, 50.79% of the population spoke Bengali, 30.51% Manipuri, 8.04% Hmar, 2.66% Bishnupuriya, 1.63% Hindi, 1.46% Kabui and 1.11% Kuki as their first language.

The Jiribam district, consisting of both the classes of population but also other communities such as Bengalis, was affected in a unique fashion.

During the first week of violence, Meitei mobs led by the Arambai Tenggol militia attacked Kuki-Zo localities in the Jiribam Town.

In the ensuing mayhem, the entire population of Hmars and Thadou Kukis from the Jiribam town got displaced to Assam's Cachar district.

[38] The Kuki-Zo villages in the southern hills of the district got cut off from the Jiribam town, which was now under the control of hostile Meitei mobs and militias.

[36] The Indigenous Tribes Advocacy Committee (ITAC) asked the government to prevent Arambai Tenggol and Meitei extremists from entering the tribal villages and requested special protection to the villages of Zairawn, Mongbung, Phaitol, Muolzawl and Sejang.