Apex Meitei body's women wing threatens stir if missing person not rescued

Imphal, Nov 30 (IANS) The women's wing of the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), the apex body of the majority Meitei community, threatened to launch a series of agitations if the army failed to locate and rescue the 56-year-old man of the community who has been missing since November 25 from Kangpokpi district.

COCOMI women's wing convenor Leirik Leima said that if the army were found to be biased, the people, particularly the mothers of Manipur, would not tolerate such actions.

If the authorities fail to ensure the safe return of Laishram Kamalbabu Singh, the people of Manipur would no longer allow the army to remain in Leimakhong in Kangpokpi, she said.

"The people of Manipur had placed their trust in the Army, which had been stationed in Leimakhong for a long time," Leirik Leima told the media.

Kamalbabu Singh, a resident of Gossaipur under Cachar district in southern Assam and now staying at Loitang Khunou village in Imphal West district, left his residence on November 25 to go to the Leimakhong military station, where he was working as a supervisor for a contractor working with Military Engineering Services (MES), but went missing.

A defence spokesman on Saturday said that the army, along with Manipur Police, continued their intense search operation for the sixth day on Saturday to locate and rescue Kamalbabu Singh even as tension mounted in Imphal West district, which borders the hilly Kangpokpi district.

He said that regular interactions have been held with village heads and community elders to further intensify the search operation by gathering information and seeking assistance.

CCTV feeds have been scanned, his co-workers were being spoken to, and an intense search operation, including sniffer dogs, has been launched, the spokesman said.

An official in Imphal said that Imphal West and Kangpokpi police, along with Army teams under the personal supervision of 57 Mountain Division's GOC, are involved in the search operation.

The Joint Action Committee (JAC), formed after Kamalbabu Singh went missing, has also been agitating, including holding a sit-in protest at Kanto Sabal in Imphal West.

The protesters demanded the safe release or rescue of Singh at the earliest.

Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Friday urged the Army to undertake all-out efforts to locate and rescue Kamalbabu Singh and take responsibility for finding the missing person.

Leimakhong military station, located 16 km away from the capital Imphal, is surrounded by Kuki-Zo-Hmar tribal-dominated areas. After the ethnic violence broke out in Manipur in May last year, people belonging to the Meitei community fled the areas near Leimakhong village.

--IANS

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