Story of missing man from Army camp : Scripting a tragedy
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 28, 2024 -

This would beat any yarn churned out in some B or C Grade Hindi flick but this is not a make believe story on celluloid but a real life event, bordering on tragedy, that has been scripted.

Where else would one come across the story of a man reported missing after entering a highly fortified Army base camp like Leimakhong and adding that tinge of tragedy is the report that the log book at the entrance gate of the Army camp shows the signature of the missing man on the entry column but none at the exit space.

This is as per the family members of the missing man while referring to what they have been told by the Contractors’ Union. 56 years old Laishram Kamalbabu was engaged in supervising contract works inside Leimakhong Army camp and while originally from Cachar Goshaipur, he was staying at the residence of his brother at Loitang Khunou when family members lost all contact with him from the afternoon of November 25.

Reports of the man having gone missing without leaving a trace emerged in the morning of November 26 and it is this piece of information which greeted the people of Manipur.

Till the time report of the missing was filed late in the evening of November 26 and even on November 27 there is no indication to show that police or the Army at Leimakhong have come anywhere near tracing him.

Given the situation in the State, when even women and children were abducted from a relief centre opened not far from Jiribam police station, suspicion is mounting that Kamalbabu could have been abducted by Kuki militants.

The catch here is, he went missing after he had entered the Army base camp with nothing to show that he had exited or had come out from the camp.

This is scary for here is a case of a man missing from inside the camp of the Indian Army and apart from reports of search being mounted, not much have been heard of any development.

It is now 48 hours since family members lost all touch with Kamalbabu with the latest report on November 26 stating that his mobile phone was found switched off.

Given that Manipur or rather the Meitei community has been raising the finger of accusation against some section of the Central security forces of being partisan in the ongoing ethnic conflict with video footage of some armed Kuki militants asking a Central security personnel if there are any Meiteis while attacking a place at Jiribam in the not so recent past, the story of a Meitei man going missing after he had entered the Army base camp at Leimakhong will surely raise more questions on the conduct of the security personnel.

Not a situation anyone would want to become a reality, but this is highly likely.

Is there any way Kamalbabu could have gone outside the army camp of Leimakhong without passing the gate through which he entered the camp ?

How does one explain that his entry is marked but not his exit but yet nonetheless he has gone missing ?

This is where one can very well speculate on whether Kuki militants are being given access via an entry point other than the gate and if so why ?

Does the SoO pact mandate that a separate entrance be opened for the Kuki militants to enter the Army camp without being noticed by others ?

All questions at the moment and only the authority at Leimakhong can answer this, but the very fact that these questions are being raised right now should go some way in explaining the acute trust deficit between Manipur and some section of the Central security forces.

A reality brought about by the conduct of the security personnel and no one else.

If someone goes missing after entering the house of a Tomba, Hongba or Chaoba, who would be the first suspect ?

The answer should be natural to anyone with a modicum of intelligence and it is this which the Army at Leimakhong should answer.

Or will it be a case of the Army conveniently washing its hands off from the case, for remember under AFSPA, Manipur has seen many cases of people ‘made to disappear’.

One also wonders how the Union Home Ministry has taken to the news of the missing person and to the people of Manipur a silence will not come as a shocker.