#Manipur | The Justice

The 71-year-old farmer nobody marched for: Manipur's quiet killings

Hemjang Haokip was 71. He went to his paddy field in Kangpokpi, as he had for decades, and armed men took him away. His hut was burned; his body was found the next day with his hands tied. Manipur has been bleeding since May 2023, and the country has learned a terrible arithmetic: a killing in the Northeast is a statistic, a killing in the capital is a scandal. The state arrives after the fact with commandos and calls it a response. Until a farmer going to his field and not coming home is treated as the emergency it is, everything else is commentary.

4 October 2026 · 2 min read

A paddy field in Thoubal district, Manipur

India

Hands tied, stab wounds: 71-year-old Kuki farmer found dead a day after abduction in Manipur

Hemjang Haokip, a 71-year-old Kuki farmer from Khunkho Kuki village in Kangpokpi district, was abducted from his paddy field on Saturday afternoon; his body was found a day later with his hands tied and stab injuries. The Kuki Youth Organisation alleged suspected NSCN-IM cadres took him and burned his field hut; the Committee on Tribal Unity alleged NSCN-IM and ZUF-Kamson involvement. The allegations remain unverified. Combined state and central forces, including CRPF CoBRA commandos, have been deployed in the Leimakhong-Khunkho area, where Kuki groups allege Naga residents have been blocking Kuki villagers from their agricultural fields.

4 October 2026 · 2 min read