The Meira Paibi, a Meitei women’s collective, is one of the highly respected institutions in the Meitei society. They have a history that goes back decades. In their early years, they fought against alcoholism. In the 1980s, they struggled to get the Armed Forces Special Powers Act revoked in Manipur. Now they are at the forefront of the struggle between the Kuki and Meitei communities.Although they insist that they exist to serve all sections of Manipur’s population, they are widely identified as a Meitei organisation and, certainly, the accusations and charges they face are of obstructing the Assam Rifles and, even, forcing them to release Meitei militants accused of killing army soldiers in an ambush in 2015.Against this backdrop, The Wire interviewed one of the rising leaders of the Meira Paibi, Aheibam Chanthoisana Chanu, to better understand the organisation and especially, its growing distrust of the Assam Rifles. We ask how this distrust emerged and why it has increased over the decades. At the same time, Chanu is asked about the accusations and allegations made by the Assam Rifles against the Meira Paibi.Finally, she is asked whether the Meira Paibi has been misunderstood outside Manipur and, perhaps, misrepresented by the press. Are they victims of what they consider bad journalism?