Churachandpur, Manipur: Akhup Hao got a frantic phone call Sunday afternoon from his daughter. His son S. Malsawm Haokip, 31, was picked up by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) when he was on way to Churachandpur to meet him.
“I got a call around 11.30 am, that Malsawm had been taken away by the police. He is being targeted because he is the Kuki Students Organisation (KSO) president (of Leimata block). We were not told by the CBI why my son was arrested, nor were we informed about his arrest,” Akhup told ThePrint.
The retired employee of National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) isn’t the only worried parent.
Nengboi Haokip, too, didn’t know her son Paominlun Haokip, 21, was arrested by the CBI. Paominlun, the KSO general secretary of Leimata block, was intercepted when he was en route to Churachandpur. A law student of LMS Law College in Imphal, Paominlun was forced to flee the state capital during the violence that unfolded in Manipur on 3 May.
“How can my son, a student himself, kill another student?” the mother asked. “I got a call from his friend who was travelling with him that my son had been taken away by the security forces. I still have not been able to speak to him.”
The two KSO members are suspected to be among the “main culprits” — as announced Sunday by Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh — arrested from Churachandpur district in connection with the abduction and killing of Meitei students Phijam Hemanjit and Hijam Linthoingambi.
The CBI have also arrested two women — Lhingneichong Baitekuki and Tinneilhing Henthang — in connection with the case of the two Metei students.
Hatshi, the sister-in-law of Lhingneichong, has no clue what was her kin’s fault. “She was a daily wage earner. She grew vegetables and did odd jobs to support her family. The CBI didn’t spare her children either,” Hatshi told ThePrint.
The children’s grandfather filed a missing complaint with the Churachandpur police on the same day of the arrest, alleging they were “illegally taken away”. Later, the CBI handed over the minors to the District Child Protection Officer of Kamrup Metro in Assam.
On 2 October, the CBI wrote to the Churachandpur police requesting them to inform the families about the arrest of the four arrested. “In view of the prevailing law and order situation and ethnic unrest amongst the communities of victim and accused side, at Imphal, the above information could not be provided earlier. It may kindly be acknowledged at the earliest that the family members of aforesaid arrested persons have been duly informed,” stated the letter seen by ThePrint.
The arrests and the family members not being initially informed about the CBI action has fuelled anger among the Kuki community.
“We strongly condemn the CBI. We cannot accept this, why were the women and children arrested from the middle of the road? What was the fault of the children? They will be traumatised because children only feel safe when they are with their own family. The CBI never informed the families and simply picked them up from the road,” Kuki Women Organisation for Human Rights president Ngaineikim told ThePrint.
According to CBI sources, a team tracking the SIM cards of the suspects, intercepted them Sunday and arrested them swiftly before anyone realised. Given the sensitive situation on ground, they said, the team of officers were accompanied by the CRPF and the Assam Rifles personnel to Churachandpur.
The arrested persons were flown in a helicopter directly to the Imphal airport and then taken to Guwahati on a flight. They were presented in a special court which granted five-day custody of the accused to the CBI. The quartet will be again produced 7 October before the court.
The CBI is now focused on recovering the bodies of the two slain students, who had gone missing in July. Their killings were confirmed in September when photos of the bodies surfaced after the Manipur government had lifted the ban on the internet imposed in May.
KSO information and media in-charge Janghaolun Haokip told ThePrint that the Kuki community now wants a separate administration and that there is no going back on the demand.
“It is impossible to go to Imphal. We will get killed. The government has to recognise this and realise it has failed to protect us. Circumstances have pushed us now to demand a separate administration. We don’t want to hold any talks with the state. We will only speak to the Centre,” Janghaolun said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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