Mincemeat
of peace
Manipur militants are abducting teenagers and are using them to
serve their personal agendas.
Rising incidents of abductions are now a major cause of concern for common
people in Manipur. People have denounced the increase in instances of
abduction of children.
Thirteen-year-old Okram Amarjit of Wangjing Heituppokpi Awang Leikai has
been missing since July 17. Two people allegedly abducted him on the false
promise of getting him a job.
Two people, identified as O. Biju and O. Naba, also took sixteen-year old
teenagers, Khundrakpam Bitanjit and Saikhom Sidhanta from Heirok away.
Police later apprehended O. Biju, when he was going along with another
abducted youth, identified as 13-year-old Soibam Ronaldo from Wangjing in
Thoubal.
Biju disclosed that children were being sold to militant outfits.
Following this disclosure angry people from Heirok and Wangjing villages
burnt down the houses of alleged abductors. “After getting some
information we went to Moreh to search for our children. There, we met a
KYKL cadre but failed to get any information and couldn’t trace the
children. Later, we were informed that our children had been sold by
abductors to a militant outfit for Rs. 30,000 each,” said Sobita Devi, a
mother of abducted teenager.
“The public has decided to root out these abductors who sell children
for money. The incidents are happening not only in Heirok and Wangjing
villages but also all over the state,” said Surjit, father of an
abducted teenager.
On July 19, four unidentified miscreants abducted two teenagers from
Chingarel village.
Fortunately, after 2 days Lairenlakpam and Ngangbam managed to escape from
the clutches of abductors.
“We were on our way for some work when all of a sudden a van stopped
besides us. Some men came out and forced us inside the van. There were
four men in the van,” said Ngangbam Kuber Singh, a teenager who managed
to escape.
On July 19, members of outlawed KCP (MC) abducted 23-year-old Yumnam
Manoaba from Yourbung Maning Leikai.
The victim’s father, Y Megha is working under Manipur’s Health and
Family Welfare Minister and the abduction was carried out in order to set
up a meeting with the Minister regarding an ongoing renovation project of
the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS).
Following the incident, college students and social activists in Imphal
staged a mass protest rally against abductions.
After a massive search operation, Y. Manaoba was rescued by a combined
team of Imphal West and Imphal East commandoes from a house at Thoubal
Samurou.
A KCP (City Meitei) cadre Nepram Priyojit alias Nanao was also captured
along with arms and ammunition.
“After our vigorous efforts and intelligence inputs, we have been
successful in rescuing Y. Manaoba from Samurou area,” said P. Kailun,
senior superintendent of police in Imphal West.
Militant groups are not getting any support from the people. They have now
started abducting teenagers to survive.
Their illegal acts have been widely condemned by people in the state
Assam’s tea industry hit by ULFA’s
extortion drive
Tea Estates in Assam are facing a tough time as militant outfits,
especially United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) have intensified their
extortion activities.
Assam has over 800 tea gardens producing over 500 million kg of tea every
year.
The tea estate owners, traders and businessmen - are facing extortion
threats from militant outfits.
According to police, over a dozen extortion cases by ULFA have been
reported in Tinsukhia district.
In one incident recently, a group of heavily armed ULFA militants entered
the Luit tea garden and went on a rampage, burning three vehicles and
physically assaulting the plantation manager and workers.
These outfits demand millions of rupees from tea estate owners.
Most of the times the victims prefer to pay the money after negotiations
instead of confronting the militants.
Assam’s tea industry provides large-scale employment to local people.
“Tea gardens are the only source of work for us. If we don’t get
regular work, we won’t be able to earn and feed our family,” said
Bhupen Lohar, a worker at a Tea Garden.
“Every new unit provides us employment. If these units get extortion
threats, the owners will have no choice but to shut down their businesses.
This will be a major setback for labourers like us,” said Harpal Singh,
a businessman in Dibrugarh.
Tea industry in Assam is a major revenue-earning sector for the State.
But, rising incidents of extortion have created a fear psychosis.
Experts view this as a serious threat to state’s economy.
“If terrorist activity goes on, there is every possibility that some of
the tea gardens will be shut down, and then what will be the consequence?
The consequence will be less revenue to Assam and poorer Assamese economy.
And therefore I think that terror activities should be checked and
adequate protection should be given,” said Prafulla Rajguru, a retired
Principal of the DCB College in Jorhat.
The police believe that ULFA is in disarray after the arrest of almost the
entire top brass. He outfit, which is facing a severe financial crunch, is
therefore intensifying its extortion drive in upper Assam, and is
especially targeting the tea estate owners and traders.
Deputy Commissioner of
Senapati district complained to the joint team of the Centre and state
government visiting the district headquarters today that government
officials in the district could not perform their duties due to
disturbances by anti-social elements and sought more security deployment.
DC Nidhi Kesarwani aired the grievances faced by the government
employees in her district owing to the disturbances in a meeting with the
joint team at the conference hall of her office today while drawing the
attention of joint team comprising state and Central officials for more
security in the district.
She said that following extortion demands by the NSCN (IM), NSCN (K) and
newly formed People Safeguard Group (PSG), etc.
Officers of the government offices in the district are unable to discharge
their duties by staying at their stations.
Supplementing the grievance aired by the DC, officials who do not want to
disclose their names also revealed that NSCN (IM) is demanding payment of
24% of their monthly salaries every month.
Over and above this, NSCN (K) and PSG are also pressuring them to pay
"percentage" from their salaries besides asking to pay huge
amounts of money to them, they complained.
The DC, Nidhi Kesarwani, aired the grievances faced by the
government employees in her district owing to the disturbances in a
meeting with the joint team at the conference hall of her office today
while drawing the attention of joint team comprising state and Central
officials for more security in the district.
She said that following extortion demands by the NSCN (IM), NSCN (K) and
newly formed People Safeguard Group (PSG), etc.
Officers of the government offices in the district are unable to discharge
their duties by staying at their stations.
Supplementing the grievance aired by the DC, officials who do not want to
disclose their names also revealed that NSCN (IM) is demanding payment of
24% of their monthly salaries every month.
Over and above this, NSCN (K) and PSG are also pressuring them to pay
"percentage" from their salaries besides asking to pay huge
amounts of money to them, they complained.
