Oting, Mon: Khawang Konyak, 21, had left his home in Oting village of Mon district for the first time. The father of a 4-month-old boy, Khawang, was determined to make this Christmas a merry celebration for his family.
“Now that Christmas and New year celebrations are approaching, he wanted to buy clothes for his wife and child. He wanted to buy fish and meat with his earning, so that we could cook it at home. My son wanted to come back home- to his parents, his wife and child,” Khawang’s 40-year-old mother Hingchk Konyak tells EastMojo at their home in Oting.
Khawang left for work on Wednesday. He had informed his family that he would return home by Saturday, the fateful day that disrupted the peaceful Oting village.
“He was in my womb for nine months. His father and I made sure that he was not hurt even by a mosquito…we cared so much and raised him. But where is my child now? Why was he killed?” the mother questioned.
Khawang, a coal miner, was among the 13 people killed by security forces on December 4.
The grieving mother says, “I did not even get to see the dead face of my child. I did not see him, I did not see his face. Even after his death, he wasn’t brought home. The government made the (necessary) arrangements. I did not get to see him, that is why I am so hurt, and I feel so bad.”
Khawang was laid to rest in Oting after a mass funeral service at Mon town, followed by a mass funeral service at Oting, on December 6.
While the state government and central government announced that ex-gratia will be given to the kins of the deceased, the mother of the 21-year-old deceased says, “My child is lost. Even if the government give me lakhs and crores of rupees, I don’t need it. I want my son alive here. I want my son.”
Khawang’s 20-year-old widow Lemei Konyak recalled how she waited for her husband’s return that fateful evening.
“When he left home on Wednesday, he told me that he would earn and come back. He wanted to take us shopping after he returned on Saturday. That evening, I did not know that he was killed. I prepared food and kept waiting for him,” she says.
She then recounted that around 10 PM that evening, a local informed her that some men from their village were killed by security forces. Her husband, who did not return home, was one among them.
The couple, who accidentally got to know each other over an unknown phone call, fell in love and later married in October 2020.
“He was a very good person. He cared so much for me and my child. He made sure that our child and I are not hurt,” an emotional Lemei tells EastMojo.
The young widow then questioned: “On what basis did the army kill my husband? Who will look after me and my child?”
Khawang’s mother also added saying, “He was not a naughty child. He did not steal and he is not an underground worker.”
The deceased was a miner who was killed by security forces on what was supposed to be an ambush on militants over a case of “mistaken identity”.
The family still longs for Khawang to return home.
As Khawang’s mother sits on a bench outside their home, she points towards the house and says, “Look at the house, my child who used to be so happy around here, is lost. What bad deed did he commit? Why was he killed? Is there an answer?”