Just one month after two children were killed in a bomb attack in Manipur’s Bishnupur district came the news of three church leaders being killed in an ambush.
According to reports, the leaders were part of the Thadou Baptist Association India (TBAI), a Baptist denomination rooted in the Thadou-Kuki community of Manipur. They had attended the United Baptist Convention Assembly in Churachandpur, also known as Lamka, and were returning to Kangpokpi when gunmen ambushed their convoy on the Imphal-Tamenglong highway in broad daylight.
The deaths of the church leaders drew condemnation from churches across the Northeast and from Christian organisations in India and abroad.
A press statement released by the Evangelical Fellowship of India and signed by General Secretary Rev. Vijayesh Lal stated, “The killing of unarmed church leaders returning from Christian fellowship and ministry is deeply disturbing and tragic.”
The Nagaland Baptist Church Council wrote, “We condemn this act of violence without reservation. The taking of human life is a violation of God’s law and an assault on the image of God in which every person is made.”
A statement by the North East India Christian Council noted, “We also appeal to Christian political leaders in Northeast India to come together in a spirit of responsibility and statesmanship.”
The Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India stated, “Such senseless violence against innocent lives is heartbreaking and unacceptable.”
International organisations also responded. The Baptist World Alliance said it joined the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation in grieving, praying, and calling for peace through dialogue.
From Mizoram, the Baptist Church of Mizoram wrote, “The BCM views this killing as completely unjustifiable since the victims were unarmed Christian ministers returning from a peaceful religious gathering.”
The Council of Churches in Mizoram stated that the incident had affected Christians across the Northeast who shared the grief.
These are just a handful of more than twenty press statements issued by churches across the world and neighbouring states. The condemnations were necessary and much needed because the killing of innocent lives is an inhumane act.
However, as a practising Christian myself, I have a question for church leaders in Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, India, and every denomination that issued statements expressing grief and outrage: where were you when two innocent children were killed last month in April?
Where were these statements when six civilians, including women and children, were abducted and killed in Jiribam in 2024? Where were these condemnations when Kuki women were paraded naked in 2023? Where were these voices when civilians from both communities were being killed inside villages and homes over the last three years?
With over 40 percent of Manipur’s population practising Christianity, and more than 80 percent in Nagaland and Mizoram, I would like to believe that if the churches had been as vocal, vigilant, and angry over the deaths of ordinary people during the last three years of conflict, it could have made a difference.
The argument may arise that these were church leaders, and therefore the church was right to stand in support of them. But what about ordinary church members? Should concern only be shown when victims hold leadership positions within religious institutions?
Who speaks for everyone else? Narendra Modi? The Prime Minister, whose geographical distance from Manipur may be just over 2,000 kilometres, but whose emotional distance from the conflict often feels immeasurable?
Political leaders in Mizoram, who rightly expressed concern when Kuki women were paraded naked, also went largely silent as killings continued over the years, only to speak again now that Christian “leaders” have been attacked.
I support every condemnation issued in this case. The church has done what it needed to do now. But it did not do what it should have done consistently during the deaths of more than 200 people over the last three years.
Every death of a church member during this conflict has been “completely unjustifiable.”
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