A day after three people from the Hmar community, identified as “militants” by the Assam Police, were killed in a gun-battle near the Bhuban Hills of Cachar district in Assam, family members of one of the deceased, 35-year-old Joshua, have told The Hindu that they believed he was killed in an alleged “staged encounter”.
Joshua Lalringsan, father to a 10-year-old, was a resident of Senvon village in Manipur’s Pherzawl district, and cultivated ginger, rice, and vegetables, two of his cousins in Senvon village told The Hindu over the phone. “He left the village on June 10 to become a village volunteer near the buffer zone in Jiribam district to safeguard our people there,” Lalram Keinlo, 42, Joshua’s older cousin said.
On June 6, Manipur’s ethnic conflict, going on for over 14 months, had spilled into Jiribam district, where Hmar people comprise the majority of Kuki-Zo tribes. This was after the bodies of a Kuki-Zo man and a Meitei man were found within weeks of each other, the second body sparking a spate of arson, in which several Kuki-Zo settlements in Jiribam town and a Meitei village in Borobekra were burnt down.
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“No one from the authorities, either in Assam or in Manipur has got in touch with us yet. Based on what we have seen in the press and videos on social media, it appears to be a fake encounter,” 50-year-old Lalompuia, another of Joshua’s cousin in Senvon, said.
According to videos of the police purportedly apprehending the three individuals from an autorickshaw, Lalompuia explains, “The police first checked their sling bag and found nothing. Then another police personnel put their hand in and without taking it out said there was a weapon there. How do we know they had weapons with them?”
After the three alleged militants were killed in the exchange of fire involving the police, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, had posted on X on Wednesday, “In an early morning operation, @cacharpolice killed 3 Hmar militants from Assam and neighbouring Manipur. Police also recovered 2 AK rifles, 1 other rifle, and 1 pistol.”
However, in a note issued by the SP of Cachar Police and later posted by the DGP of Assam Police on social media, it is not made clear who killed the three apprehended individuals. The note said the police had taken three “Hmar militants” apprehended earlier in the day, including Joshua, to an alleged hideout of theirs near the Bhuban Hills. An intense gun-battle broke out between alleged militants already present in the area and the three apprehended individuals were hit and killed amidst this exchange of fire.
The police said they had apprehended 21-year-old Lallungawi Hmar and 33-year-old Laibikung Hmar, both residents of Fulartoul in Assam, along with Joshua, who was from Manipur. They said they had acted on inputs of militants moving and apprehended the three near Ganganagar part VI, on the way to Bhuban Hills. The three were apprehended from an autorickshaw and the police claimed to have seized one AK rifle, a single-barrel rifle, a pistol and love ammunition from them.
The accused allegedly told the police about a hideout in Bhuban Hills, where more alleged militants were. The police then took the apprehended individuals to locate the hideout when they were allegedly fired upon by around 6-7 militants. The three Hmar individuals were injured despite having been dressed in bulletproof jackets and helmets, the police said.
After subsequent searches conducted in the area, the police said they had found the militants who had attacked them had fled leaving behind one AK rifle with some live ammunition and empty shells, which were also seized.
“We have received no information about receiving the remains of Joshua. We have let the Hmar Inpui, the apex body of our tribe, to coordinate that on our behalf,” Lalram said.
Both of his cousins said they don’t know much about when Joshua was apprehended. But Lalompuia said, “Joshua was last near the Mongbung village in Jiribam district as a village volunteer. Last we know, he had just crossed the Barak river into Assam over the weekend.”
Mongbung village in Jiribam district was at the centre of another gun-battle in the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur on July 14, when a party of the Manipur Police and the CRPF had entered a village they had been asked by the Assam Rifles to “not venture into”. Men identified as village volunteers by security sources and “militants” by the Manipur Police opened fire and a CRPF Constable was killed in the ensuing gun-battle.
