For Laisharam Herojit, a relief camp inmate from the Meitei community in Manipur’s Jiribam district, the worst fears have come true – his family has been executed.
Mr Herojit, in an almost inaudible, slow voice, told NDTV on phone from Jiribam, “It is true”.
His two children, wife, mother-in-law, wife’s sister and her son are dead, killed in captivity by suspected Kuki militants after they were taken hostage on Monday from the town bordering Assam.
The partially decomposed bodies of Mr Herojit’s 60-year-old mother-in-law and his two-and-half-year old son were found floating in a river near Jiribam, the police said today.
Mr Herojit’s son’s headless body was found wedged between some broken tree branches floating in the river. Eyewitnesses told NDTV arms were missing from the boy’s body.
The semi-naked body of the boy’s grandmother was found floating in the river, face down.
The boy, L Chingheinganba, and his grandmother, Y Rani Devi, were taken hostage at gunpoint along with the four other family members on Monday, amid an encounter between the militants and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Jiribam’s Borobekra, some 220 km from the state capital Imphal.
Three bodies were brought to a hospital morgue in Assam’s Silchar at 7.30 pm on Friday. They were Mr Herojit’s eight-month-old baby, his wife’s sister, and her eight-year-old daughter. The body of Mr Herojit’s wife is yet to be recovered, though government sources have confirmed all six were dead.
Soon after reports of the tragedy came on Saturday morning, violence broke out in the state capital Imphal, with protesters vandalising houses of MLAs of the ruling BJP and trying to storm Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s official bungalow.
The protesters are angry over what they claim was inaction by the government on launching a rescue operation and lack of communication from the authorities before it was announced all the hostages were found dead.
At least two dozen suspected Kuki militants split into two groups before launching the attack in Jiribam’s Borobekra on Monday, police sources told NDTV. While one group took civilian hostages, the other vandalised and set fire to houses, sources said.
Ten militants in the group that attacked a CRPF camp were shot dead, the police said in a statement.
The Kuki tribes claim the 10 men killed in the encounter were “village volunteers”, an allegation the police and other authorities have refuted strongly. The security forces have shared visuals of assault rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) which they say were brought by the militants. They have also shared visuals of a police SUV with numerous bullet holes.
Political leaders cutting across party lines have condemned the killing of women and children in Manipur. Most have said the latest incident was a terror attack considering it was not a skirmish between two communities in a riot-like situation, but a calculated hostage-taking operation with an intention to execute them.
“Deeply saddened by the tragic incident in Manipur. 6 innocent lives (3 women and 3 minors) from the Meitei community were kidnapped and killed by Kuki terrorists. Condemn terrorism! Demand severe punishment for culprits,” Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said in a post on X.
The Mizoram government in a statement said, “… Deeply saddened by the recent turn of violent events in Manipur in which precious lives were lost. The government extends its deepest condolences to the families who lost their loved ones and those injured in the recent unrest… Request everyone to refrain from actions which can instigate communal incidents within Mizoram in connection with the recent Manipur conflict…”
Former Manipur Chief Minister and Congress leader O Ibobi Singh told reporters today MLAs are ready to quit en masse if necessary in the interest of the state. His comments came following an ultimatum given by the influential Meitei civil society group COCOMI to the state leaders to act on the Manipur crisis or step down.
“We have already mentioned that we MLAs will resign if it can solve the crisis. We are ready to quit in the interest of the state if the crisis can be solved with our resignation. But the onus of the situation lies with the state and the Centre; there is no law and order. There is a complete breakdown of constitutional systems. This is the government’s responsibility that they can’t ignore,” said Mr Ibobi.
Latest Round Of Violence Began Thursday
The latest round of violence in Jiribam began on Thursday last when suspected Meitei insurgents attacked a village of the Hmar tribe. A woman from the Hmar tribe was killed in the attack. Her husband in a police case alleged she was shot in the leg, raped and then set on fire by the suspected Meitei militants. Civil society groups of the Kuki tribes have accused the Manipur government of keeping silent on Thursday’s attack.
The next day, a woman from the Meitei community was shot dead allegedly by suspected Kuki militants while working in a paddy field in the valley district Bishnupur. While Meitei civil society groups alleged the firing came from a nearby hill, the Kuki tribes have denied the shooting, citing the long distance from the nearest hill to the paddy field where the woman was hit.
Kuki groups have alleged Meitei insurgents tried to shoot at central forces for not letting them cross the sensitive area (or “buffer zone”), but missed and hit the farmer.
The Kuki tribes and the Meitei community have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation.