Imphal/New Delhi:

The last photograph of L Chingkheinganba Singh, 3, whose partially decomposed body was found in a river in Manipur’s Jiribam district, shows five other family members including his infant sibling and mother sitting together in a forested area.

Chingkheinganba Singh, in a tiny pink t-shirt, had turned his head to look at something or someone. His mother and eight-month-old sibling sat a step across from him. An orange rattle toy lay on a nest of dry bamboo leaves on the ground.

The three-year-old boy from the Meitei community has a bullet wound in the skull, the autopsy report said. There are stab wounds and fractures in the chest and lacerations in the forearm and other parts of the body. His right eye is missing.

The autopsy report shows his mother, L Heitonbi Devi, 25, has three bullet wounds in the chest and one in the buttock.

His grandmother Y Rani Devi, 60, has five bullet wounds – one in the skull, two in the chest, one in the abdomen, and one in the arm.

There are deep lacerations on many parts of the bodies of the two women, the autopsy reports show.

The autopsy reports of the three other family members of Chingkheinganba Singh are with the Jiribam police. They are eight-month-old infant Langamba Singh, his mother’s sister T Thoibi Devi, 31, and her eight-year-old daughter T Thajamanbi Devi.

Laishram Herojit, the father of Chingkheinganba Singh, told NDTV today he asked the police to give the remaining three autopsy reports as the family has the right to access them under the law. Mr Herojit said he is waiting for the police’s response.

Calls to the Jiribam police station went unanswered.

A joint action committee formed to demand justice in the killings said the police have asked them to bring a court order if they want the three remaining autopsy reports.

The premeditated kidnappings and killings of the six members of the Meitei community were done by “Kuki militants”, the Manipur government has said. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is looking into the case.

All the six were living in a relief camp in Jiribam’s Borobekra after they lost their homes in the ethnic clashes between the Meitei community and the Kuki tribes that broke out in May 2023.

At least two dozen Kuki militants attacked the police station in Borobekra, near the interstate border with Assam, on November 11 and killed two senior citizens from the Meitei community, police sources have said. Another group of militants kidnapped the six civilians while the other group pressed on with their attack, sources said.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soon engaged the Kuki militants in a 45-minute gunfight, at the end of which the security forces found 10 bodies along with assault rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher.

Mr Herojit told NDTV an eyewitness saw his family being taken away in a boat on the Barak River on November 11. All the six bodies were found floating in the river between November 15 and 18.

The photo of the six civilians in captivity appeared in a WhatsApp channel called ‘Zogam News’, which has over 12,000 followers. Reactions on the photo had smiling emoticons. It soon went viral on social media. The WhatsApp channel’s information page shows it was created on March 25, 2024.

Intelligence sources said this WhatsApp channel is among the many they have been monitoring in Manipur.

Civil society organisations of the Kuki tribes claim the 10 men killed in the encounter were “village volunteers”, an allegation the police and other authorities have refuted strongly, pointing at the weapons brought by the militants and numerous bullet holes in a police SUV.

Political leaders 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, premeditated kidnapping operation with an intention to kill them.

The latest round of violence in Jiribam began on November 7 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 that attack.

The Manipur cabinet in a statement on November 16 had said “Kuki miscreants” burnt several houses and attacked Borobekra police station in Jiribam district on October 19. This attack and not the November 7 attack led to a fresh cycle of violence, sources have said.

The Manipur cabinet’s statement on November 16 said the following: On October 26, “Kuki miscreants” again set a house on fire at Moulkangthol village in the same district. On November 3, Jiribam police rescued a Vaiphei woman from Chandrapur Rani Veng Babupara and handed her over to her family. On November 7, a Hmar woman was killed and several houses were set on fire in Zairawn village by Meitei miscreants. The same day, Kuki miscreants attacked Mongbung Meitei village with bombs. On November 11, the CRPF effectively countered an armed offensive by Kuki militants on Borobekara police station which housed a relief camp, killing 11 militants. In the attack, two Meitei civilians were killed by the Kuki militants.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday (November 16, 2024) termed the recent string of violent clashes and continuing bloodshed in Manipur “deeply disturbing”, as he urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the state and work towards restoring peace in the region.

A day after the bodies of three out of six missing persons were fished out of a river in Manipur, protesters on Saturday (November 16, 2024) attacked the residences of three state ministers and six MLAs, prompting the government to clamp prohibitory orders in five districts for an indefinite period besides suspending internet services in parts of the State.

In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi said the recent string of violent clashes and continuing bloodshed in Manipur is deeply disturbing.

“After more than a year of division and suffering, it was the hope of every Indian that the Central and State governments would make every effort at reconciliation and found a solution,” the former Congress chief said.

“I urge the PM once again to visit Manipur and work towards restoring peace and healing in the region,” Mr. Gandhi said.

In Imphal, angry protesters ransacked the houses of three legislators, including that of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh’s son-in-law, and set their properties on fire even as the security forces fired tear gas shells to disperse the agitators.

The Congress has been attacking the Prime Minister for not visiting Manipur, besides slamming the Centre for its handling of the situation in the ethnic strife-torn northeastern state.

The violence between Meitei and Kuki communities in Manipur has claimed more than 200 lives since May last year.

Imphal/New Delhi:

The father of two children – who went missing along with their mother and three others from Manipur’s Jiribam after an encounter between suspected Kuki insurgents and the security forces – has appealed to the authorities to find them as soon as possible.

Two other women from the family, and an eight-year-old child are also missing.

At least 10 suspected Kuki insurgents were shot dead in Jiribam on Monday. Kuki groups have alleged they were “village volunteers” who were shot from behind by the CRPF without any provocation, an allegation the Manipur Police have denied.

Laisharam Herojit, a low-level worker in the state government, in an interview to NDTV appealed to any group that may have held his family hostage. He told NDTV that a friend of his wife saw them being taken away on a boat by armed people.

“I’m Laishram Herojit. I’m a resident of Thambalkhong. I’m a low-level government servant. Among the six missing people, my wife, my two children, my mother-in-law and wife’s sister are there. So far there is no information about any of them. I don’t even know whether they are alive,” Mr Herojit told NDTV.

“They are all innocent. My two children cannot even speak yet. The elder one has just about started to speak. Please release them unhurt and hand them over to the family,” he said.

Mr Herojit told NDTV he got a call from his wife when shooting and arson broke out in Jiribam’s Borobekra on Monday. The call got disconnected and when he dialled her back, he found the phone was switched off.

“She was crying on the phone. She said they were surrounded by a lot of armed people. The call got disconnected, after which I called her back, but the mobile was switched off. My mother-in-law’s phone was also switched off. About an hour later – and we had been searching for a while – a Bengali friend of my wife told us she saw them being taken away in a boat,” Mr Herojit told NDTV.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp and the police station in Jiribam’s Borobekra are less than 1 km from the Barak River (see map above).

The yellow line is the distance between the river and the CRPF camp (approximately 600 metres), while the white line is the distance between a small settlement and the police station (approximately 350 metres). The small settlement is on the upper tip of the white arrow. This is where the houses were set on fire by the suspected Kuki insurgents after attacking the police station, according to police sources.

The CRPF engaged them in the open stretch between the larger settlement towards the direction of the river and the camp, which is next to the small settlement that was set on fire, sources said, adding it was an extremely chaotic situation.

Meitei Community Holds Silent Protest

Members of the valley-dominant Meitei community held candlelight vigil and protests in some cities to draw attention to the situation back home. Meitei civil society organisations called a shutdown in the state capital Imphal and other valley areas to protest against the attack by suspected Kuki militants in Jiribam.

Meitei Alliance, a global umbrella body of civil groups, in a statement said the “hostage-taking of three children and three women by Kuki terrorist groups… is an atrocity that demands immediate action. These terrorist groups, driven by a narrow ethnocentric agenda, must be rooted out at all costs.”

“… The time for restraint is over. This is a make-or-break moment for Manipur. We demand proactive measures, and we urge all elected leaders, regardless of political affiliation, to fulfil their duty and help in bringing an end to this crisis,” the Meitei Alliance said in the statement.

Kuki Groups Question “Encounter”

Several civil society groups and student organisations of the Kuki tribes have condemned what they call “barbaric actions” of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). They alleged the 10 men were “village volunteers” who were “treacherously murdered”.

Paolienlal Haokip, one of the 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs who have been seeking a separate administration citing alleged atrocities and unfair treatment by the Manipur government, on Wednesday questioned the decision to send more central forces to Manipur after the Jiribam incident.

“Is rushing more CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces) the solution? While totally neglecting the political process?” Manipur BJP MLA Mr Haokip told NDTV.

“As long as you refuse to recognise the political problem, continue to back the mastermind of the ethnic purge as Chief Minister, rushing in more forces will only result in more deaths. Volunteers defending their villages are dubbed suspected militants, and a political problem is being handled as a law and order problem,” said Mr Haokip, a fierce critic of Chief Minister N Biren Singh.

Congress Delegation Meets Assam Governor

A Congress delegation in Assam met the Governor to express concern over the growing crisis in neighbouring Manipur, particularly the kidnapping of the six people. Former Manipur Chief Minister and Congress leader Okram Ibobi Singh said the situation continues to deteriorate with each passing day, made an urgent appeal for the Governor’s intervention, and called for the Centre’s active role in ensuring their safe return.

Jiribam is right on the interstate border with Assam. Sources said the context of the Congress delegation meeting the Assam Governor may be due to the suspicion that militants could be crossing between Assam and Manipur using Barak River in the Borobekra stretch. Sources said this reinforces the claim by Mr Herojit that his family was taken away in a boat.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

New Delhi/Imphal:

At least 11 suspected Kuki insurgents were shot dead in an encounter with the security forces in Manipur’s Jiribam district today, sources said. The situation is fluid and more details are awaited.

Some Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers were also injured in the attack by the suspected Kuki militants in the district bordering Assam, sources said.

The encounter began after the suspected Kuki insurgents launched a massive attack from two sides on a police station in Jiribam, sources said. There is also a relief camp for internally displaced people next to the police station. The attackers may have looked to target the camp too, sources said.

This police station in Jiribam’s Borobekra had been targeted several times in recent months.

After attacking the police station, the suspected Kuki insurgents spread out towards a small settlement in Jakurador Karong, 1 km from the police station, and began setting houses on fire, sources said, adding they simultaneously engaged in a gunfight with the security forces.

Tension has been high in Jiribam since last week when a fresh round of violence broke out.

On Thursday last, a woman from the Hmar tribe was killed by suspected Meitei insurgents, who also set houses on fire in Jiribam. Her husband in a police case alleged she was raped before she was killed.

A day later, a woman from the valley-dominant Meitei community was shot dead by suspected Kuki insurgents while she was working in a paddy field.

This morning, suspected Kuki insurgents opened fire from the hills in Imphal East District, leaving a farmer injured. The attacks during the paddy harvest season have raised concerns as farmers are getting reluctant to go to their fields, officials said.

The CRPF is the country’s biggest Central Armed Police Force (CAPF). It has evolved into an efficient fighting force with huge successes in anti-Maoist operations in Jharkhand and other states. It made significant contributions to eradicating Naxalism, particularly in West Bengal and in the Kaimur and Rohtas regions of Bihar.