Nearly a month after they were abducted and one aborted release attempt later, 14 Kuki men were released by Naga groups in Manipur’s Senapati district Tuesday afternoon. However, a question mark still lingers over the location and fate of six missing Naga men, who are believed to have been abducted by the Kuki side.
The Naga groups have been hoping to use to force the other side to hand over the six missing Nagas.
A senior police official said the 14 Kuki men were released at Taphou Kuki, a village in Kangpokpi district, to which most of them belong, and that search is still on for the six missing Naga men.
Taphou village headman Lenkhomang Chongloi said the 14 men were handed over to them by a team of police, security forces and the administration, and they were told that this was happening only an hour earlier.
The Kuki headman said: “We thought the 14 had already gone, that we had lost them. So emotions are running very high right now.”
On May 13, amidst the rising Kuki-Naga tension in Manipur, dozens of villagers were abducted by both sides in Kuki-Zo-majority Kangpokpi district and Naga-majority Senapati district, respectively. Fourteen captives had been released by both sides after a day-long stand-off.
However, Naga groups in Senapati had continued to hold on to 14 captives, demanding that six of their missing people, who they alleged had been abducted by Kuki groups, be released first.
The Kuki groups have denied holding any Nagas, saying they released all their hostages on May 15.
According to locals, the Kuki villagers who had been abducted had stepped out of home on May 13 morning to gather firewood in the jungle, when the situation in the hills began to spiral due to the killing of three church leaders from the Thadou Baptist Association in an ambush at Kangpokpi.
In retaliation, the Kuki groups abducted over a dozen Naga villagers in Kangpokpi. This was followed by the abduction of over two dozen Kuki residents of Taphou.
Chongloi said the 14 released men were undergoing medical check-ups. “An Army doctor has come. We will take them to civil doctors as well. We are thankful that they do not have any physical injuries, but we don’t know what their mental and psychological condition might be like,” he said.
United Naga Council (UNC) president Ng. Lorho told The Indian Express that the release had been facilitated by building consensus among the different Naga groups in Senapati. “The government has assured us that the status of our six men will be established and produced within a time frame. So, we are waiting now. We have made the first move on humanitarian grounds,” he said.
In an oral statement made close to Taphou, he said, “We are honouring the commitment made by Honourable Home Minister ji through Honourable CM of Nagaland Dr Neiphiu Rio that the government will put all effort to trace and establish the status of the six Naga missing hostages.”
Different quarters had been urging for the release of the 14 Kuki men, including Nagaland Chief Minister Rio, Meghalaya CM and different church groups. The Home Department of the Manipur government had also appealed to the UNC to facilitate the release of the hostages, stating that the case related to the missing men had been transferred to the NIA, along with continuing search operations.
With these appeals, there had been discussions to release them on June 1. However, this had led to tensions in Senapati with other Naga groups expressing discontentment over this potential release without the six men being located and rescued, and the UNC had called off the release citing “prevailing sentiments of Naga public”.
Welcoming the release of the hostages on Tuesday, Rio issued a statement saying, “May this act of humanity serve as a reminder that dialogue, compassion and faith remain our most powerful instruments for reconciliation and peace, We once again appeal for the safe release of the 6 Naga hostages in a reciprocal humanitarian manner so that they return to their loved ones. We hope this gesture will pave the way for trust, understanding and dialogue as we strive for genuine peace, reconciliation and harmony.”
