Leimakhong: The lifeless body of Shri Hemjang Haokip, a 71-year-old Kuki farmer from Khunkho village under Leimakhong, has been recovered a day after his abduction. The body was found on Sunday evening during a search operation conducted by local residents along with security forces and state police. His hands and legs were tightly bound with rope, his limbs were broken, and his field hut nearby had been set on fire.
Photographs and details from the search team show that his body was lying outside the charred hut. The evidence suggests he was abducted from his field, bound, tortured and killed, and the hut was later torched to destroy evidence.
According to villagers, Haokip had gone to his paddy field on the morning of 3rd October for harvest-related work. When he failed to return home by evening, family members searched for him and found his field shelter reduced to ashes. Due to security concerns in the fringe area, the search was suspended overnight and resumed today evening with the assistance of security forces.
During today’s operation, his body was found near the charred hut. Photographs from the site show his hands tied behind his back and his legs bound together with rope, indicating he was overpowered before being killed. Villagers allege that cadres of the India-sponsored NSCN-IM were behind the abduction and murder and that they set the hut ablaze to make the death appear accidental.
Family members described Haokip as a peaceful farmer with no links to any armed group. Village leaders said the brutal killing has created panic among cultivators in Khunkho, Leimakhong and adjoining areas of Kangpokpi district, with many farmers now afraid to visit their fields during the harvest season. The Kuki Human Rights Council (KHRC) condemned the killing, calling it a grave human rights violation.
The incident has intensified concerns over the safety of Kuki civilians. Residents of Khunkho have appealed to the Central and State governments to restrain the activities of India-sponsored NSCN-IM in Kuki areas, ensure protection for farmers, and provide justice and compensation to the bereaved family. Police said the body has been sent for post-mortem and an investigation is underway. The situation remains tense in the area.
Villagers further alleged that this is not an isolated case but part of a systematic pattern of killings of Kuki community members by India-sponsored NSCN-IM and ZUF-Kamson cadres. They said that despite repeated killings, abductions, torture and burning of villages and paddy fields of Kukis by NSCN-IM and ZUF-K in Kangpokpi, Tamenglong and adjoining areas, India has not made even a single arrest so far. The armed cadres are moving freely in Kuki areas, carrying sophisticated weapons and openly threatening farmers, while security forces have failed to take action against them, they alleged.
