CoTU calls 24-hour Kangpokpi-wide shutdown
Tension resurfaced in Leimakhong area of Manipur’s Kangpokpi district, after a 76-year-old missing Kuki man was found dead in a deep forest area on Sunday.
Hemjang Haokip of Khunkho, a Kuki village in Leimakhong area went missing after his farm hut was allegedly set on fire by unknown miscreants on Saturday. Villagers alleged he was abducted by the miscreants who torched his farm hut and his lifeless body was recovered following an intensive search operation involving security forces.
In their efforts to trace him, the security forces also deployed sniffer dogs.
Local reports said that Haokip who used to stay overnight in his farm hut failed to return home even as the hut had been torched by the miscreants till late evening on Saturday.
When family members visited the farm hut, he was nowhere to be found, following which they along with other villagers launched a search till late evening.
The villagers who had to suspend the search due to the darkness of the night coupled with security concerns, later informed the local police station on Sunday.
The police along with the paramilitary forces and the villagers conducted a search in the forest areas in the vicinity of the farm starting from early Sunday morning. When pant, shirt and sweater belonging to the missing man were recovered from the forested area, the search was intensified by deploying sniper dogs into the deep forest, resulting in the recovery of the dead body of the missing man later in the afternoon.
The legs and hands were found tied when the body was retrieved, the sources said. The recovery of the dead body of the 76-year-old farmer was at a time many Kuki based CSOs including the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), Kangpokpi were seeking for his safe and unconditional release. While seeking the safe release, the CoTU alleged the farmer was abducted by militants suspected to be cadres of NSCN(IM) and ZUF (K) groups.
The Khunkho Village Authority, the village where the deceased 76-year-old man hailed from, also while seeking his safe release alleged that he was abducted by cadres of NSCN(IM).
Hemjang Haokip was allegedly taken by NSCN-IM militants from his field hut in Khunkhu Kuki village while his shelter was subsequently burned to the ground, the village authority alleged. The village authority called the incident a serious violation of human rights and urged the state authorities and law-enforcement agencies to ensure his safe return and bring those responsible to justice.
Meanwhile, the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) called a 24-hour total shutdown across Kangpokpi district which will be effective from 12 am on October 5 to 12 am of October 1 in connection with the killing of the farmer. In a statement widely circulated on the internet, CoTU called for closure of all government offices, educational institutions, and commercial establishments with exemptions only for media and medical emergencies during the shutdown period.
It also urged the public of Kangpokpi to strictly comply with the shutdown in mourning and solace for the departed soul of the late Hemjang.