Tales of a loss with no ending
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: December 16, 2023 -

THE manner in which the lifeless bodies of Kuki-Chin people lying for long in the mortuaries of JNIMS and RIMS in Imphal had been taken out by the state police and paramilitary personnel in the wee hours on December 14 and later airlifted to Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts has not gone down well with some section of the people, for obvious reason.

Thawai Mirel has already made known its displeasure to the BjP-led Government in the state over handing over the mortal remains of 60 Kuki-Chin people, who were killed in the ongoing violence between the Meitei/Meetei and Kuki-Chin communities that broke on May 3 last, to their next of kin in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts without any assurance of a reciprocal measure for the several missing Meitei/ Meetei people, who have been presumably killed by armed Kuki-Chin militants.

The fact that four bodies belonging to the Meitei/Meetei community which were lying in Churachandpur District Hospital had also been airlifted and brought to Imphal has not been able to pacify Thawai Mirel and many other angry people for the simple reason that bodies of several missing Meeteis are yet to be recovered and handed over to their bereaved families.

Even if none could say anything with certainty about other missing cases, that of Phijam Hemjit Singh and Luwangbi Linthoingambi Hijam, two missing students whose fates remained unknown since July 6 until the photographs of their last moments in the captivity of armed Kuki men surfaced on social media, as well as the disappearance of two teenage boys, Ningthoujam Anthony and Maibam Avinash, whose whereabouts have not been known after they strayed into a Kuki-Chin dominated area on November 5, are the glaring examples of failure of the government and its law enforcement agencies to protect the lives of innocent people.

Even after the suspected killers/kidnappers have been arrested by the investigating agencies including the premier Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the bodies of four teenagers are yet to be recovered.

So, the discontentment of people over the clandestine arrangement made by the state administration for handing over the dead bodies of Kuki-Chin people is understandable.

It's true that the Government of Manipur was only acting in compliance with an earlier instruction given by the Supreme Court of India for ensuring a dignified burial or cremation of the bodies and it has no choice but to do everything discreetly so as avoid another public outcry.

But the missing cases of as many as 27 people from the side of Meetei/Meitei community and at least nine belonging to Kuki-Chin community, as claimed by their leaders, in the ongoing violence, need to be given serious attention as well.

Families of missing people are enduring suffering which is beyond comparison to even that of the bereaved families of victims whose bodies have been recovered and given proper burial or cremation.

While waiting for news of their loved ones, families of the missing people are living in a perpetual state of anguish and despair.

It is hard for them to accept that their loved ones may no longer be alive until some reliable proof is provided.

With no certainty of whether their loved ones are still alive or dead, and not knowing what has/had happened to them and their bodies, if no more alive, the suffering of such families is bound to be compounded when the government and its related agencies to whom they have been reposing their trust and confidence fail to live up to their expectation.

This is exactly what most families of missing people, regardless of their communities, in Manipur are feeling today and the same has been articulated by Thawai Mirel, when it took strong exception to handing over the mortal remains of 60 Kuki-Chin people to their next of kin in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts without any assurance of a reciprocal measure for Meetei people, whose whereabouts remain unknown after they went missing from Kuki-Chin dominated areas.

As sufferings of the families of missing people are like tales of a loss with no ending, perhaps, it's time for the Supreme Court to appoint a separate committee to look into cases of missing people in the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur as well, just as it has done a good job in ensuring dignified burial of the dead bodies that were lying at mortuaries.