Manipur woman sits on protest after husband goes missing: Find him alive, safe

The wife of a missing Meitei man, Laishram Kamal Babu, sat in front of security personnel in Manipur on Saturday evening, facing barbed-wire barricades, and said, “I will not move from here until and unless my husband is handed over to me”.
The protests erupted after Babu, a supervisor for a contractor at the Leimakhong military station in Kangpokpi district, went missing on November 25. Tension flared as women protesters, led by Belarani, removed the barricades and marched towards the army camp, demanding to find the missing man.
Babu’s wife, Akoijam Ningol Laishram Ongbi Belarani, said that her husband’s phone had been unreachable since Monday afternoon, heightening her fears.
“I tried to communicate with him on November 25, but his phone was off. I came today from Cachar after hearing my husband went missing,” she said.
“The army personnel should find my husband alive and safe,” she said, while refusing to go anywhere.
Babu, a resident of Cachar district in Assam, had been staying at his brother’s house in Loitang Khunou while working at the camp.
The incident has triggered widespread protests across the Imphal Valley, with calls for authorities to act swiftly.
Following the public outcry, the Army issued a statement confirming intensified search operations for Babu. Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has also asked the Army to take responsibility for locating the missing man.
A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered at the Sekmai police station regarding the case.
More than 200 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic clashes between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and the hills-based Kuki-Zo groups in the northeastern state since May 3, 2023.