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Families of 4 killed in Manipur firing refuse to accept bodies
On Monday evening, four Meitei Pangal men were killed while 18 were injured (five sustained bullet injuries) in Thoubal
The family of four men shot dead by militants in Manipur’s Thoubal district on Monday refused to take the bodies on Tuesday and submitted a memorandum to the state government with a list of demands, people aware of the development said.
The memorandum submitted by a joint action committee (JAC) of Meitei Pangals urged the government to allow forming village protection forces in all areas where the Meitei Muslim community reside in the state. The committee also demanded that the probe of the Monday killings be handled by the National Investigation Agency.
In an order, the state government ordered the setting up of a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Manipur Police sub-divisional police officer Mohd Riyajuddin Shah, to probe the killings, which the statement said was suspected to have been carried out by “valley-based UGs [under grounds].
The widespread ethnic violence in the northeastern state since May 3 has led to creation of community-based armed village defence volunteers as the fault lines have deepened beyond the Meitei -Kuki divide, pitting different communities and groups against each other.
“The demands should be fulfilled by the government of Manipur within 48 hours, and if the demands are not fulfilled, the dead bodies shall not be taken by the relatives and the JAC,” the memorandum said.
On Monday evening, four Meitei Pangal men were killed while 18 were injured (five sustained bullet injuries) in Thoubal. Around 20-25 militants had come to a local trader’s house in Lilong Chingjao area to extort money. When a crowd gathered at the man’s house, the militants fired at them and fled, area residents said.
The incident was not linked to the ethnic clashes, police said. Pangals are Meitei Muslims who have not been involved in the ethnic clashes between Meiteis and Kukis. On Tuesday, various Meitei Pangal groups held community meetings as part of their peace keeping talks to ensure that they were not dragged into the ethnic clashes.
“Meitei Pangal groups held joint meetings with local Meitei groups and state government representatives. Monday’s killing should not be seen as a fallout of ethnic clashes,” said Raees Ahmad, spokesperson of the United Meitei Pangal Committee. “We have urged our community members to maintain peace. Meitei Pangals are not involved in the clashes at all.”
Chief minister Biren Singh visited the families of the injured in Lilong, Ahmad said. “The JAC has submitted the memorandum to the chief minister,” he said. “The situation is peaceful now.”
Meanwhile, the banned Revolutionary People’s Front reportedly issued a statement on social media groups, claiming responsibility of the shooting. Members of the front had gone to a drug dealer’s house in Lilong when some of his gunmen fired at them, forcing them to return fire, the statement said. HT could not independently verify that authenticity of the statement.
CBI files charge sheets in missing students case
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday filed two charge sheets in the case of two Meitei students, who were kidnapped and murdered in Manipur last year. The agency filed the two cases in a Guwahati court based on separate complaints of the families of the man, P Hemanjit Singh and the girl.
The agency is yet to recover the bodies of the two. The charge sheets were filed against five arrested accused, Nohgin Baitekuki, Paolunmang, Smalsawn Haokip, Paominlun Haokip and Lhingneichang, a CBI official said, declining to be named.
“On the morning of July 6, the boy went to the tuition class of minor girl and picked her up on his bike as a pillion rider and proceeded towards Bishnupur side and from there to Thas View Point Area on old Cachar Road. At that spot, the boy and girl were intercepted and held captive by the accused, who forcibly put the victims in a vehicle. They were taken to an undisclosed location and later on, were suspectedly killed,” the federal agency said in a statement.
Phijam Hemanjit Singh (20) and the 17-year-old-girl were abducted by Kuki militants on July 6. For more than two months, until their photos surfaced on social media, their families believed their children were missing but were alive somewhere. On September 25, photos of the students surfaced on social media. One showed them sitting on the ground in what appeared to be a forest, with two armed men in the background.
Another photo showed them apparently lying dead on the ground. The man’s head appeared to be missing in the photograph and the girl’s face is not visible. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the photographs.
The CBI is looking for the other accused who know the location where the bodies are buried, officials said.
