Five days after groups from the Kuki and Naga communities took hostages after church leaders were killed, the crisis persists despite the hostage exchange, with the Nagas claiming that six of their people are still missing.
Five days into the ongoing hostage crisis in Manipur, the Kuki side insists that they have freed all of the hostages, leaving the situation in the state’s hills on the brink. Meanwhile, the whereabouts of six individuals that Naga groups claim are missing in Kangpokpi district remain unknown.
In the Kuki-Zo majority Kangpokpi district and the Naga-majority Senapati district, dozens of villagers from both sides were kidnapped and held captive by groups on the opposing side on Wednesday amid tensions between Manipur’s Kuki and Naga communities. Each side had freed 14 of these prisoners on Friday morning following a day-long standoff. However, the situation is still unstable, with 14 Kuki people still being detained by Naga groups in the Senapati district and Naga groups calling for the release of six individuals they claim were kidnapped by Kuki groups and are still unaccounted for.
“All 14 individuals in our custody were released on Friday morning. There are six more people, according to the Naga groups, but we don’t know who they are or where they are. We are in contact with various organizations and volunteers on our end, but we have not heard anything regarding their detention. We want the government and security forces to conduct rescue efforts on both sides. Janghaolun Haokip, the information secretary for Kuki Inpi Manipur, stated, “We are depending on the government taking charge.”
In order to find the six missing individuals, security forces and police are conducting search operations in Kangpokpi and surrounding areas, according to a state security official.
The Naga groups are holding 14 people hostage, and six Naga people are reportedly being held by Kuki groups, but they are denying that. So search operations are going on to find these six people who have not been accounted for,” said the official.
“It is a matter of great concern that nobody knows the status of these six people as of yet,” stated Ng Lorho, president of the United Naga Council. Although 14 individuals from both sides were freed and traded on Friday, our people are still holding some of their people because the status of six of them is still up in the air. We are mediating; once the six individuals’ statuses are known, we can make a decision and move forward.
When three church leaders from the Thadou Baptist Association—Reverend Vumthang Sitlhou, Reverend Kaigoulen Lhouvum, and Pastor Paogoulen Sitlhou—were killed in an attack on their vehicles on Wednesday morning while they were traveling from Churachandpur to Kangpokpi, tensions in Manipur reached a new high.
Some residents of Konsakhul, a Liangmai Naga village in Kangpokpi district, were kidnapped and detained by Kuki groups shortly after word of the attack spread and Kuki groups started accusing armed Naga groups of being behind it. Naga groups, on the other hand, apprehended at least 23 individuals in the Senapati district and more in certain areas of Kangpokpi.
Five of the six men who are still unaccounted for are from Konsakhul village, according to Naga groups. One of them has been identified as Reverend Manu Thiumai, a pastor in the nearby village of Harup.
“The largest garrison in the state, the Leimakhong military station, is not far from the location where they were kidnapped. “It is extremely concerning that they are still unable to locate them,” stated Thotso, another United Naga Council leader.
However, Kuki groups have determined that the 14 Kuki people being detained by Naga groups are all men, and 13 of them live in Taphou Kuki, a village in Kangpokpi that borders Senapati. A resident of the nearby village of Hengbung has been identified as one of those detained.
BStudents make up three of the hostages still being held. According to Thangtinlen Haokip, a leader of the Committee on Tribal Unity, “none of those detained have anything to do with the conflict and have lived alongside Naga neighbors all their lives.”
Sadar Hills, the Kuki students’ organization, threatened “widespread agitation” on Sunday night and issued an “ultimatum”” demanding the release of the 14 prisoners within 48 hours.
The state’s current predicament, where the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities have been at odds for three years, coincides with increased hostilities between the Kuki-Zo and Naga communities, which began in Ukhrul district in February of this year and have been getting worse ever since.
