"My Child Can't Speak Yet": Manipur Man Appeals For Safe Release Of Family Missing After Jiribam Encounter

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.

Latest Round Of Violence

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.

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.