‘I don’t know if he’s dead or alive’: In Manipur, 2 murders shake many families

Hijam Linthoingambi (17) and Phijam Hemjit (20), the two students whose bodies were purportedly seen in the photographs, were among 30 who have been counted as ‘missing persons’ by the police during the course of the conflict — people who have not been found, whether dead or alive. Their families have been waiting for months for information about their loved ones.

Ranjita and Shyam were residents of Torbung Bangla, located at the border of Meitei-dominated Bishnupur district and Kuki-Zomi-dominated Churachandpur district. When violence flared up on May 3, this was among the first places that was hit, and their home went up in flames too. They had fled by then, and were living in a relief camp in Moirang.

According to Ranjita, on the morning of May 11, Shyam ventured back to Torbung Bangla with some other people to retrieve some rice for the family, since the initial violence seemed to have subsided. But he, along with two other men who had gone with him, never returned. Their families suspect that they were abducted by members of the Kuki-Zomi community, but they have no answers.

“Till now, nothing is known about what happened, where they are. I don’t know if he’s alive or dead. We have done dharnas, we have met ministers, but all we hear is ‘we are working on it, we are looking’,” said Ranjita.

Besides Shyam, the two other men who went missing that day are Naorem Prakash Singh and Leichombam Suraj Meitei. Like Ranjita, Prakash’s parents are living in a relief camp in Nambol in Bishnupur district, while his wife Sanatombi and two children are staying with her parents in Nambol.

Prakash’s father-in-law, Inaocha, said they don’t have much hope after five long months. “How can he be alive after all this time? There is no expectation, he must be dead somewhere. We have made many requests to the police to at least find the body… but there has been nothing so far. No information about where he could be,” he said.

This week marked exactly five months since Atom Samarendra (47) – a central government employee based in Imphal West – and his friend, Y Kirankumar (47), went missing on May 6.

Both had left Samarendra’s house at around 10:30 that morning, in his vehicle. While the last call made by him was at 4:24 pm, his family tracked his phone to trace his last location, at 4:35 pm, at Saheibung village, which is at the foothills along the border with the Kuki-dominated hill district of Kangpokpi.

“We approached the security forces the next day and some of our relatives also joined the search team on May 7, but could not reach the spot because of blockading by Kuki people,” said Samarendra’s uncle, Meghajit Singh.

Like the families of other missing persons, they tried different ways to locate them: ‘missing person’ complaints, convening a joint action committee to find them, multiple memorandums to authorities for a mass search operation, visits to hospitals for information.

Five months later, they are still looking.

“I still hope that he will return to us. He will surely return home. Even earlier this week, some people went to ask at the police station about the status of the search,” said Samarendra’s wife, Kavita.

On the other side of the divide, in Kangpokpi district’s Khongtah village, Lal is certain his cousin, Thangtinlen Khongsai, is dead. Struggling with drug addiction, Thangtinlen had been away from his village for several years and was staying in Imphal with a friend. Since he had not been in touch with his family, they don’t know when he went missing, and still have no information about his whereabouts.

But Lal points to a video clip of a man, bound and lying on the ground, surrounded by men kicking and beating him with sticks before shooting him. He identifies the man in the video clip as his cousin.

With morgues in Imphal still out of reach for Kuki-Zomi families, even the families of those who are confirmed to be dead are yet to get the bodies.

Meanwhile, back in Imphal, while Linthoingambi and Hemjit’s family now know they are dead, their bodies are yet to be found.

“All we are asking for now is if they (authorities) could hand over even a bone or piece of cloth belonging to him. I’ve not washed his blanket. His smell still lingers on the blanket, I want to cherish it,” said Hemjt’s mother, Birodini Devi.