Tension mounts in Manipur over back-to-back ‘mysterious disappearances’

The ethnic-violence-ravaged Manipur is bracing for another round of intense confrontation, with two the two warring sides separately issuing ultimatums to the state government to secure the release of “abducted” members of their respective communities.

This comes following back-to-back incidents of “mysterious disappearance”, triggering panic and insecurity on either side of the demographic divide created in the state.

Two teenaged boys from Meitei community, Ningthoujam Anthony and Maibam Avinash, disappeared after they left their Imphal West home on a bike on November 5.

Police said the two were last seen in CCTV footage at Lamshang locality in Imphal West district around 10.15 am on that day. Lamshang is near Sekmai and is a Meitei-majority area.

Since then, there has been no trace of the two, and police are clueless about their whereabouts even though they have recovered the cell phones of the two missing teenagers from a petrol pump in the Naga-dominated Senapati district.

Meitei civil society organisations alleged that Kuki militants were behind the “abduction”.

An eye for an eye

Two days later, on November 7, an alleged Meitei mob “forcibly took away” four Kukis who were on their way from Churchandpur to Leimakhong (both Kuki-dominated areas) to attend a wedding.

Police said the group of five was travelling in a Bolero, when they were waylaid by a mob. One 65-year-old man, father of an army soldier, managed to escape in a critical condition. The mob picked up others, including two women.

Police later found bodies of a man and a woman in two different locations of Imphal East district. The cops suspect they were among the four missing persons. The fates of the two others are not yet known.

Meanwhile, police arrested two persons from the Kuki-Zo community in connection with the alleged abduction of two Meitei teenagers. A Meitei man was also reportedly taken into custody for the November 7 incident.

Pressure is mounting on the beleaguered N Biren Singh-led BJP government to ensure the safe return of the missing persons.

“Selective justice”

After the expiry of its 24-hour ultimatum to the state government to locate them, the Committee of Tribal Unity, a conglomeration of Kuki-Zo civil society groups, enforced a 48-hour shutdown in Kangpokpi and Sadar Hills district that ended on Monday.

The committee said its agitation would continue “until the rest of the kidnapped family members are safely returned to their families”.

It further demanded “unconditional release” of members of the Kuki-Zo community detained at Senapati police station on charges of abduction of two Meitei teenagers. The charges are baseless, it claimed.

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum — another powerful umbrella organisation of the Kuki-Zo community — convened a mass rally in Churachandpur on November 15 in protest against atrocities on the Kuki-Zo community.

Accusing the state government of handing down “selective justice”, it demanded investigations into the atrocities against the Kuki-Zo community.

The Meitei civil society groups, too, are up in arms against the state government for failing to trace the two missing boys.

Various Meitei CSOs, Meira Paibis, social activists, student bodies, and politicians have decided to form a joint action committee (JAC) to launch a vigorous agitation to “secure the release” of the teenagers.

They gave a seven-day ultimatum to the state government on Sunday to find the missing boys.

Demand to lift internet ban

Meanwhile, at least six student bodies on Monday demanded immediate lifting of the existing ban on mobile internet services in the state.

In a joint statement, the student bodies said the ban has failed to quell the unrest. Instead, the restriction is creating hardship for students and the business sector, it added.

The Manipur government on Monday extended the ban on mobile internet/data services for another five days till 7.45pm of November 18 as a preventive measure.

The ban came into force after the ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3. Around 200 people have been killed and over 60,000 left homeless in the ongoing conflict.