Missing without a trace
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: July 26, 2024 -

AMONG the numerous cases related to the ongoing conflict between the Meitei/Meetei and Kuki-Chin communities in the tiny northeastern Indian state of Manipur, that of 17-year-old Hijam Linthoingambi and 20-year-old Phijam Hemanjit is one that is going to haunt the people for long time to come.

After they were last seen riding their bike into a Kuki-Chin dominated area on July 6, 2023, the whereabouts and fates of the two missing students remained unknown until some photographs of their last harrowing moments in the captivity of armed Kuki militants surfaced on social media on September 23.

One of the photographs shows the two teenagers sitting on the ground in fear with armed Kuki militants in the background and another shows their lifeless bodies slumped next to a large boulder.

Following public outcry, the office of Chief Minister of Manipur soon issued a statement, assuring "swift and decisive action" against those involved in their kidnapping and killing and the matter was already being probed into by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in collaboration with the state agencies.

The statement from the office of Chief Minister had also urged the angry public "to exercise restraint and let the authorities handle the investigation".

True to the assurances given, CBI filed two separate chargesheets in the court of chief judicial magistrate of Kamrup (Metro) in Guwahati against five accused in two inter-related cases within four months of starting the investigation.

Even though the two chargesheets had clearly stated that Linthoingambi and Hemanjit had been "intercepted and held captive by the accused who forcibly put them in a vehicle and were taken to an undisclosed location and later on, they were believed to be killed", the fact that the mortal remains of the two students are yet to be recovered and further progress of the case is not known is rather very sad.

With all their pleas for tracing and handing over the bodies of their kids fallen on deaf ears, bereaved family members of Hemanjit may have performed his last rites on July 24 using a Pangong tree in place of his body as per the customary practice of Meetei/Meitei community, but the father of Linthoingambi has made it clear that the last rites of his daughter would not be performed until her mortal remains are traced and handed over to the family.

This brings us to the question of why the Government of Manipur or the CBI and other investigation agencies have not been able to recover the bodies of people missing who are presumably killed in Kuki-Chin dominated areas.

Apart from the obvious body count and mass displacement of people on both sides of the clash divide, one disturbing trend we have seen in the ongoing conflict between the Meitei/Meetei and Kuki-Chin communities is the disappearance of people from the valley without a trace after they accidentally strayed into Kuki-Chin dominated areas.

Of course, there had been report of Kuki-Chin people giving safe passage to fleeing Meitei/Meetei, and the latter doing the same to Kuki-Chin people in the initial stage of the conflict.

But the situation is quite different today.

Even though there are still instances of Meitei/Meetei people handing over Kuki-Chin people who lost their way safely to the police, the fate of anyone belonging to Meitei/Meitei community who happened to stray into Kuki-Chin dominated areas is as good as doomed.

These include innocent young students like Linthoingambi and Hemanjit as well as two teenage boys, namely, Ningthoujam Anthony and Maibam Avinash, whose whereabouts have not been known after they lost their way and drove their bike into the Kuki-Chin dominated Kangpokpi district on November 5 last year.

The fact that these young boys and girls did not even have any idea about why the people of two communities, who were living together without any animosity till May 3 last year, are now baying for each other"s blood has amplified the sordid failure of the government and its law enforcement agencies to protect the lives of innocent people. So sad, indeed.