SOULS decries PM's silence on missing persons
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 14 2025: SOULS, a body of missing persons' families, has expressed its disheartenment over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stoic silence on the plight of missing persons' families.

Despite completing necessary formalities, the missing families were denied an audience with the Prime Minister, only exacerbating the grievances of the families who are longing for justice and return of their loved ones, said a press release issued by SOULS (Souls Offered Unitedly for a Lustrated Society) .

It said that 34 individuals, including school-going children, have gone missing since May 3, 2023 with many suspected to have been kidnapped and killed in cold-blood when they reportedly strayed into Kuki dominated areas.

Issues confronted by the families of the missing persons who are languishing in sub-human relief camps, struggling with dire financial and emotional trauma must have been addressed during the PM's visit, it said.

Non-acquisition of 'Death Certificates' has been denying the families access to relevant Government employment entitlements.

Not only their free movement and return is denied, the entire Meetei populace is sieged within the tiny valley due to open threats and violence staged by several Kuki-Chin civil organisations and armed miscreants, it said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expected to act sternly on this blatant violation of fundamental rights mandated under Article 19 of Indian Constitution, SOULS said, Despite completing the required formalities, the missing persons' families were not given an audience with the Prime Minister, it decried.

The robust developmental projects announced by the Prime Minister cannot be a full-proof solution to the ongoing violence without ensuring return of the displaced and their sustainable rehabilitation, it said.

The Prime Minister should have warned the groups who are perpetrating the present violence, and unleashing terror overtly and covertly on the highways of Manipur for years, it said.

It demanded the Prime Minister to announce a Central Government job for each of the 34 missing persons' families and provide an interim presumed death certificates to enable them access employment related entitlements.

The Government should provide specified compensation and support system to alleviate the economic hardships of the affected families, it said.

SOULS then urged the Government to prioritize dialogue and healing between co-existing communities.

It said that xenophobic politicisation of Manipur should be discouraged to ensure the sustenance of the multi-cultural mosaic of Manipur.

Saying that the Prime Minister could have done more, it decried Modi's seemingly half-hearted approach to Manipur.

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