In A First In 17 Months, Members Of Meitei-Kuki Communities Hug As 2 Hostages Freed

Two men from the Meitei community who were taken hostage after they entered a village dominated by the Kuki tribes following wrong directions on Google Maps on September 27 were released this morning.

A Kuki civil society group based in Kangpokpi district, which negotiated with the government as the authorities worked to free the two men, shared visuals of the handover showing - for the first time - people from the Kuki tribes and the Meitei community hugging and shaking hands as the ethnic tension entered the 17th month.

The two men from the Meitei community, Oinam Thoithoi Singh and Thokchom Thoithoiba Singh, were handed over to a senior police officer by the Kuki civil society group Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) in Kangpokpi's Gamgiphai area.

Chief Minister N Biren Singh in a post on X thanked officials in the state government and the Centre for working "tirelessly to ensure their safe return".

The two men had accompanied another man from the Meitei community while going to an Assam Rifles camp to attend the recruitment test for general duty constable. They relied on Google Maps and inadvertently entered the Kuki-dominated village in Kangpokpi, one of the three men who was released earlier had said in a video statement.

CoTU said the remaining two men were detained by Kuki-Zo village volunteers despite CoTU's efforts for their immediate release. CoTU said the village volunteers cited a similar incident of an ex-soldier who had accidentally entered Sekmai, a Meitei-dominated area, and paid with his life amid the ethnic tension.

The village volunteers then placed two demands for the two hostages' safe release - shifting of all Kuki-Zo inmates at Imphal jail to Kuki-Zo dominated areas, and setting up of a new police station in Kangpokpi district's Phailengmong.

"... CoTU is hard pressed to make this press statement with regards to the incident that happened on September 27, wherein three youths from Imphal valley were detained by our village volunteers. CoTU has been spearheading the release of these detainees. However, our efforts were maligned by valley-based local media and the public in Imphal, saying that CoTU is a part of this. But we would like to reiterate that after intervening, we were able to release one person on the day itself," CoTU spokesperson Ng Lun Kipgen said in a video statement today.

"However, for the other two, our village volunteers made some conditions, which took us time because the first discussion with the DGP of Manipur was on September 29. Because of him being DGP of a state, our negotiation could not materialise. The first demand was the transfer of all (Kuki-Zo) jail inmates from Imphal to Kuki-Zo dominated area, that is Churachandpur. Second was the establishment of a police station in Phailengmong area," Mr Kipgen said.

"... The two youths were released today, and as per the agreement, 11 people who were in Imphal jail were received in this church compound in Saparmeina," Mr Kipgen said.

CoTU said the government also agreed to set up a police station at Phailengmong, but will start with a police outpost in the next two-three days.

The civil group Meitei Heritage Society in a statement thanked the central and state security forces, the Manipur government and all those who worked tirelessly for the release of the two hostages. "But we are also deeply concerned with the release of the Kuki miscreants/militants (who were given bail earlier but held back for safety reasons) as part of the exchange deal to release the hostages because this sets a dangerous precedent," the Meitei Heritage Society said in the statement.

'Village Volunteers Not Involved'

However, during the initial negotiations with the hostage-takers, sources in Kangpokpi district had told NDTV on phone the kidnappers were not village defence volunteers of the Kuki tribes who guard the sensitive area or "buffer zone" in the district 45 km from the state capital Imphal.

This came to light after reports surfaced that the kidnappers have demanded the release of rights 'activist' and terror accused Mark Thangmang Haokip, who is in jail in a case being handled by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on charges of waging war against India and working against the nation to create an "independent Government of the People's Democratic Republic of Kukiland".

The volunteers have got nothing to do with Mark Haokip, the sources had said, requesting anonymity, and warned against linking them with the issue. Mark Haokip's parents had also denied their son would be used in any hostage swap deal.

"The demand to free Mark Haokip by the Kuki militant group seemed to have been buried quietly when it became clear the village defence volunteers were not involved in this matter," a source in Kangpokpi with direct knowledge of the matter told NDTV on phone.

Kangpokpi is the turf of the Kuki National Front (KNF), headed by ST Thangboi Kipgen, sources told NDTV. The KNF is one of the over two dozen Kuki-Zo militant groups that have signed the suspension of operations (SoO) agreement, which the Manipur government has been demanding to be scrapped. The SoO agreement's last renewal deadline was in February this year.

Police sources said the 11 men from the Kuki tribes who were released today from Sajiwa jail had completed their jail term two months ago, and the police had been waiting for safe transportation with security escorts due to the ethnic tension in the state.

The escorts were provided yesterday and the men were sent to Churachandpur and Kangpokpi from Sajiwa jail in imphal, a police officer said, adding it was a normal procedure.

The 11 men face different charges including drug trafficking, murder, raising funds for terror groups, theft, and sex harassment. Some of them have been charged under the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA.

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.