Missing boys found in Moreh

Three kids sent back from militant camp in Myanmar

Imphal, April 26: Three children, who went missing from their Imphal West homes earlier this month, turned up dramatically at Manipur’s border township of Moreh and claimed they went to a militant camp in Myanmar to join the group.

All the boys were brought home last night and were questioned by police today.

Chanam Ajaynao, Sapam Suran and Soraisam Naothoibi, all 15 years old and from Sairemkhul village, went missing on April 7 after they went out of their village together.

Following complaints from their parents, the police arrested one woman and a man allegedly involved in the case.

Sanajaobi Devi, mother of Ajaynao, said a caller informed one of the three families over the phone that the three boys were at Moreh and told them to come and take them home.

The parents went to Moreh and found the three at Moreh Bazar on April 22. They kept the children at Women Action for Development, an Imphal-based NGO working for children and women, till they were brought home last night.

The families first kept the children with the NGO, as they were apprehensive that something could happen if they were taken home directly from Moreh.

The boys told the police that they were guided to a camp belonging to the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (Prepak) in Myanmar. Earlier, Prepak denied recruiting children as child soldiers.

“We went willingly after Uncle Soraisam Ingo asked us if we wanted to join the militant group. We said yes. Uncle Ingo took us to Moiranghanuba (in Imphal West) and handed us over to another person. We stayed at a hotel in Imphal city for two days before we went to Moreh,” Ajaynao said.

Soraisam Ingo hails from the same village (Sairemkhul ) and he is now in police custody.

The three children said they spent one night at Moreh before they went to a Prepak camp and spent about a week there. Later, they were asked to go back to their parents and get proper education as they were still children.

“They told us go home, help our parents and get a proper education,” Ajaynao said.

The children said they were treated well at the camp, where they saw about 50 armed persons, including women.

The children said they would never go there again. The parents said no one came forward to talk to them when they reached Moreh and found their children.

The parents expressed their gratitude to the group for sending their children back home.

“We do not know what to say. We are very happy. Earlier, we could neither eat nor sleep. We were afraid that our children could be killed. We were worried that we may never see them again,” Inaocha Devi, an aunt of Ajaynao, said.

The children belong to poor families and they were school dropouts.