Our Correspondent
PARAOLON, June 17
The aftermath of the June 4 ambush in Manipur by militants–which left 18 soldiers of the 6th Dogra Regiment dead–has left a specter as disturbing as the June tragedy: a long trail of ghost villages where only hungry, abandoned dogs now prowl the empty meadows.
Not fewer than 300-400 villagers of a number of remote villages located in and around the site of the ambush are sheltering in safer places from fear of retribution.
13 days after the deadly ambush, the villages of Challong, Paraolon, Kotal Khunthak and Thumtam wore a deserted look except for a few abandoned domesticated animals, primarily cats and dogs.
The villages are located about 120 kilometers south-east of the state’s capital Imphal and about 27 kilometers west of Indo-Myanmar border, along the small and numerous blind curves filled mountainous Tengnoupal-New Somtal route. The route passes through the tropical forest of Chandel district, the second least-populous district in the border state after Tamenglong.
This came to light when an Imphal-based media team including this Imphal correspondent visited affected villages for the first time on Tuesday noon.
The 20-plus media team headed by the president of All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union (AMWJU) Wangkhemcha Shamjai took more around 4 hours from Imphal to reach the villages. The media persons reached the site of the ambush to take photographs of the location.
After about a kilometer up, the team stopped at a deserted roadside ground of Lamkang tribe-inhabited Paraolon village. The village has 35 households with a population of about 412. (The population of Challong, Kotal Khunthak and Thumtam are 230, 123, and 90, in that order).
The two charred trucks of the Dogra regiment were also abandoned at Paraolon village ground. But no one was there to interact with the media except a couple of starving hens, cats and dogs. The animals followed the visitors silently begging for something to eat. Some of the media persons have even spotted the decomposed body of a cat.
The team left Paraolon after feeding the abandoned domestic animals with whatever eatables they brought besides taking photographs of the deserted houses.
Later, the team interacted with some villagers of Moltuk near the water point of Kuki village which is about 10 kilometers away from the site of the ambush.
The few remaining villagers told the visiting media team that they were not allowed to go to their fields by the security forces on the ground of conducting search operations.
“However there is no physical harassment,” the villagers said when asked if there was any excess from the security forces after the ambush. “But we’ve been facing various problems because lack of attention from the state administration,” the villagers said.
Army sources available here claimed that there was no restriction after the ‘search and clear’ operations were called off on June 9.
Operations were conducted in some other areas and not in and around the mentioned villages ‘which lacked various facilities due to their remoteness ‘, the source said. A single passenger bus plies on the route once a week.
Paraolon village’s chief James Dilbung, who is currently staying in Chandel district headquarters, told the visiting media persons that the village has submitted a letter to district administration to take up adequate steps to restore normalcy in the village. He also demanded a security outpost in the area. The villagers of Paraolon and other villagers are likely to return to their villages within this week. A a meeting with the deputy commissioner of Chandel was held in this regard.
In another development, the Chandel Naga People’s Organization’s president WS Kanral spoke to media persons appealing to the authorities to look into the grievances of the affected villagers. The local leader also informed that the villagers have expressed desire to relocate the ill-fated army trucks presently kept at Paraolon to some other places in public interest.
