Nearly six months after her 19-year-old son Anthony went missing after crossing the buffer zone, Premlata Ningthoujam keeps a plate out for him even today while they eat their daily meals. A tradition in Meitei communities, the practice is something families follow in the hopes that their loved ones will return. “Every time we clear the untouched plate, our hearts break all over again,” Ms. Ningthoujam said.
Ms. Ningthoujam was among the dozens of people who arrived in Delhi on Thursday in a bid to make an appeal to find their loved ones — people who were reported to have gone missing in the course of the ethnic conflict in Manipur, which began one year ago (May 3).
A group of Meitei civil society organisations had brought the families together for a presser at the Press Club of India in New Delhi, stating that there was still no news of 31 people from the Meitei community who had gone missing during the conflict. As the families addressed the press, a poster behind them had pictures of those missing, with the phrase: “Let them Rest in Peace, #Justice4MissingMeeteis”.
