AR launches rescue ops, fierce gun fight reported from Haipi
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, May 11:
Suspected cadres of the Kuki National Front took into captive five persons, including a former MP and four village chiefs for working out a deal with the Assam Rifles authority to resolve the killing of three women including a mother and her one year old child on May 5. According to reports received here, the suspected KNF cadres abducted the five persons for allegedly diluting the gravity of the incident and striking up a deal which let Assam Rifles off the hook.
The five persons taken captive by the armed group include former MP Paokai Haokip (56), chief of Phoibi village Paokhoi, chief of Mongpijang village Somang, chief of Songlung village Ngamngang and Saitu village authority secretary Hemang, said sources.
The five were summoned by suspected KNF cadres on the night of May 9 to Saitu and later taken captive.
On receiving information of the abduction of the five persons, 14 Assam Rifles personnel were called from their posts at Kangpokpi and Motbung to launch a rescue operation from last night.
As the AR troops neared the jungle atop Haipi village today at about 12 noon, the militants who were holed up there greeted the advancing Assam Rifles men with a volley of gunfire.
The security personnel also retaliated and a fierce encounter ensued, said sources.
Till the time of filing this report late in the evening today, the Assam Rifles men were still trying to penetrate into the thick jungles where the militants are believed to have holed up.
Far from defusing the crisis, the rescue operations may jeopardise the fate of the five hostages, said sources.
On May 5, three women including a mother and a child were killed when a personnel of 14 Assam Rifles opened fire towards them while they were taking cover inside a dry ditch at Saitu village.
The three deceased women were identified as Dingkhoneng Haokip and her child Hoineiching and Lamneithem Haokip.
The killings had sparked outrage all over the State but Assam Rifles authority managed to strike a deal with the villagers.
The Assam Rifles agreed to pay Rs 1.5 lakhs for the three persons killed, a pig and other amenities as per Kuki customary laws.
The agreement was worked out with the CO of 14 Assam Rifles, Colonel Govinder Singh Bedi.
An inquiry to probe the matter was also ordered by the Assam Rifles authority to soothe the anger of the villagers.
The agreement struck between the villagers and the Assam Rifles authority had drawn widespread criticism from a number of civil societies which questioned whether human lives could be bartered away for a sum of Rs 50,000 each and a pig.
A number of student organisations had also decried the agreement worked out.