Prepak push to UN probe in skull case

The bones found in Imphal. File picture

Imphal, Jan. 13: The People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak has demanded an investigation by the United Nations into the recovery of eight skulls and skeletal remains in Imphal city last month.
The demand came as Families of the Involuntarily Disappeared Association, Manipur, today began visiting homes of persons who had disappeared after being allegedly picked up by security forces to shore up support in the struggle to know the truth about the skulls and bones.
The association and other human rights groups of Manipur have been demanding institution of a special investigation team to probe the case.
The demand is despite a decision taken by the Okram Ibobi Singh government to hand over the case to the CBI.
The rights organisations suspect that the skulls and bones could belong to those who disappeared after being allegedly picked up by security forces. Twenty-one persons disappeared after allegedly being picked up by security forces in between 1980 and 2011, the rights bodies said.
The eight skulls and bones were recovered while digging the campus of former Tombisana High School, opposite the former state Assembly secretariat in Imphal. The Okram Ibobi Singh government is constructing a women's market complex at the site.
In a statement today, Leibakngakpa Luwang, assistant secretary, publicity and propaganda of the People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak, termed the site a mass grave where bodies of secret killings were buried.
The statement said setting up of a special investigation team or an inquiry by the CBI would not be able to bring out the true picture as the killings were a part of the efforts by the Indian government to crush the freedom struggle. Therefore, the government will never punish those behind the killings, it said.
It said people should campaign for a probe by the United Nations on the lines of the probe proposed by the UN in Sri Lanka in the cases of atrocities allegedly committed by the government in the fight against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The families' association today visited the home of Yumlembam Sanamacha, who disappeared after he was allegedly picked up by a team of Rashtriya Rifles from his home at Angtha village in Thoubal district on February 12, 1998.