Kangpokpi: About a month after violence broke out in Manipur, 7-year-old Tonsing Hangsing, who suffered injuries during a gunfight, and his mother Meena Hangsing (45), were burnt alive in an ambulance while on their way to Imphal.
It has taken six months, but the mother-son duo was finally laid to rest on Friday.
Tonsing, the son of a Kuki father and a Meitei mother, took shelter at an Assam Rifles relief camp at Kangchup. After a gunfight broke out in the area, the boy was hit by a bullet.
As per reports, the ambulance which was on its way to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal, was under Assam Rifles escort for a few kilometres, after which the local police had taken over following which the incident took place.
The bodies of the mother and son were among 19 from the Kuki-Zo community who were buried during a mass burial programme in Kangpokpi’s Phaijang village. The burial programme was administered by Rev Dr Satkhokai Chongloi and the deceased were given a gun salute by COTU defence (village volunteers).
The dead bodies of the 19 Kuki-Zo people, including seven women and a seven-year-old were retrieved from Imphal hospitals after proper identification. These bodies were airlifted by the Indian Armed Force (IAF) to Motbung in Kangpokpi district on Thursday.
Another 41 bodies from the Kuki-Zo community were flown to the Churachandpur district while four members of the Meitei community killed in the violence were also airlifted from Churachandpur and handed over to victim’s kin in Imphal.
The disposal of bodies was done amid tight security after the Supreme Court’s November 29 directive to the state government to hand over the identified bodies lying in the state government-run hospitals to the deceased’s kin to perform the final rites by December 11.
In Kangpokpi, the Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU) called for a 12-hour total shutdown from 5 am on Friday in the district to honour and respect the fallen ‘Kuki-Zo brethren’ in the ethnic conflict.
“The much-awaited homecoming of our fallen brothers and sisters after a long tumultuous 8 months of despair, heartbreak and hopelessness have eventually reached their resting place here in our homeland. And we will honour our fallen Kuki-Zo brethrens with the highest burial rites on Friday at Martyr Cemetery at Phaijang,” a statement from COTU said.
The Committee acknowledged the Supreme Court for its intervention and for understanding the sentiments of the Kuki-Zo communities.
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Emergency services and funeral attendees were exempted from the shutdown purview.
Meanwhile, the burial of 41 bodies from the Kuki-Zo community which reached Churachandpur is likely to be performed next week, along with 24 others that are still kept at the district hospital morgue. 41 bodies flown from Imphal hospitals are kept at the Churachandpur Medical College.
Also Read | Manipur: After 7 months, 4 bodies airlifted from C’pur to Imphal