Guwahati: With the tension gripping Manipur after a Meitei man went missing on November 25, the BJP-led state government in Manipur on Friday asked the Army to trace the missing person at the earliest.
One Laishram Kamalbabu, 56 years, from the Loitang Khunou area went missing from the campus of GOC, 57 Mountain Division of the Indian Army on November 25, and since then there has been no trace of him. His mobile phone has also remained switched off forcing the family to register an FIR.
On Friday Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh addressed a press conference and said that the state government, in coordination with the Army and other central forces, is taking every possible step to rescue Laishram Kamalbabu.
The Chief Minister said that the Government had earlier also asked the officials of GOC, 57 Mountain Division to take a major role in searching and rescuing the missing person.
"The signature of the Kamalbabu could be found at the entry register of the Army campus, showing that he had gone missing from inside the campus," said N Biren Singh while adding that the Army has been asked to take the responsibility of rescuing the missing person and make the public know whereabouts of the person.
The Chief Minister informed that he had met the members of the Joint Action Committee formed against the disappearance of Laishram Kamalbabu, along with the Social Welfare Minister and MLA of Sekmai, Heikham Dingo Singh.
"The JAC members shared their grievances and submitted a memorandum, which included finding the whereabouts of the missing person and rescuing him at the earliest," he said.
Saying that the state government took the matter with utmost seriousness, N. Biren Singh has also appealed to the public to remain calm, adding that the Government has been taking all possible steps to find the missing person.
Meanwhile, tension has been running high in fringe areas of Imphal Valley after Kamalbabu’s disappearance and the locals fear that he was abducted by the militants.
Hundreds of Meitei protesters had marched to the military station at Leimakhong on Tuesday demanding the Army to trace and locate Kamalbabu. Protesters had also blocked roads and restricted the movement of army troops and police.
The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), a joint platform of several Meitei organisations had also been agitating over the disappearance of Kamalbabu on Thursday urging that search operations be intensified to trace the missing person.
