Koutruk: Eight-year-old Rojiya is quiet. She sits on a chair among the mourners gathered to grieve her mother’s death.
From the corner of her eye, she hesitantly looks at her mother’s photo, placed on the porch for a ceremony, but quickly looks away. She tries taking a look at the photo again, but instantly looks away again, closes her eyes and bows her head.
It was in the village of Koutruk, Imphal West, on 1 September, that more than 50 bombs were dropped allegedly using drones somewhere from the hills. Gunfire also rained from the hill area.
Amid the panic, as everyone ran for safety, Rojiya’s mother, Ngangbam Surbala, 31, grabbed her arm to take her to a safe place. But a bullet struck Surbala in the head. She collapsed, bleeding.
As Surbala lost grip on Rojiya’s hand and fell, she froze. A bullet also grazed Rojiya’s arm, making it bleed but she did not feel any pain, she says. Her attention was fixed on her mother. She screamed, trying to wake her, but she was dead. Her aunt pulled her away from the body, attempting to save her, but Rojiya continued to scream. Since that moment, she has remained silent.
The bombing, police sources said, went on for over three hours, before the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) moved its Mine-Proof Vehicles (MPV) and the Border Security Force (BSF) and police reached to control the situation.
According to the police, this was the first time high-tech drones were used to deploy Rocket-Propelled Grenades (RPG) against security forces and civilians in Manipur, marking a “significant escalation” in the ongoing violence in the state.
While the police have claimed that drones were used in the attack, top sources in the defence establishment say the Army has found no evidence of drones dropping bombs in Manipur.
Two security personnel and three civilians were also injured in the 1 September attack. At Koutruk village, signs of destruction are evident. Vehicles lie charred, a house has been reduced to ruins and the grass looks scorched.
Kuki Inpi — the apex body of the Kuki tribes who live up in the hills — has denied the involvement of its people in the bombing.
Speaking to ThePrint, Indigenous Tribal Leader’s Forum leader Ginza Vualzong said Kukis do not have sophisticated technology and have always used ‘pampi guns’ for self-defence.
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‘She shudders at the slightest sound’
After a lull of months, Manipur is now witnessing fresh episodes of violence in which 11 people are reported to have been killed in the last two weeks.
On 1 September, Surbala was visiting her mother with Rojiya when the bombing started.
Speaking to ThePrint, her father, Ingo, who is himself a village defence force personnel with the Manipur Police in Pjayeng Mayai Leikai, says that the slightest sound now unsettles Rojiya and the buzz of the bombs dropping and bullets being fired still rings in her ears.
“She shudders even at the slightest sound of a door getting shut, or a steel glass falling on the floor. Sometimes, in the middle of the night she starts to cry. She told me she can still hear bullets and bombs. But she hasn’t said much since the incident,” he adds.
“She has just gone awfully quiet. She was hit by two bullets but she says she doesn’t feel any pain. I can’t even imagine what she must be going through after seeing her mother take a bullet in the head. Now, she doesn’t even want to sit next to her mother’s photo. God knows what she is thinking,” he says, looking at Rojiya with concern. He adds that she wasn’t informed about her mother’s death at first.
Manipur is now investing in anti-drone technology. The police said that regular combing operations, area domination exercises and searches are being carried out to counter the menace.
The Army has transported anti-drone technology to Kangchup area in Koutruk, where the bombs were dropped. The CRPF, BSF, Indo Tibetan Border Police and Manipur Police have also been asked to purchase them, security sources said.
As Ingo prepares for a ceremony, he sits next to Surbala’s photo with his 14-year-old son Mahesh. He calls Rojiya too, but she shakes her head and refuses. She moves away from her mother’s photo, finding a distant spot to sit. Once again she bows her head, avoiding a look at her mother’s picture.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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It’s been confirmed that there were no drone attack, why do you keep posting about it?