‘I cannot go on’: Mother’s anguish after daughter raped – and husband and son die trying to save her
“I cannot carry on God, please help me,” a mother says as she struggles to understand what has happened to her family.
Her pain and trauma is unimaginable. Her 21-year-old daughter was gang raped, assaulted and paraded naked by a mob in northeast India.
Her husband and 19-year-old son were bludgeoned to death when they tried to save her.
They and others were caught up in the vortex of ethnic clashes between the majority Hindu Meitei community and minority Christian Kuki-Zomi tribe that have engulfed the remote state of Manipur, next to the border with Myanmar.
When their village was attacked and burnt, they tried to escape but were caught by a mob. Women were made to strip at gunpoint.
In a statement shared with Sky News, the young woman said the men shouted “if you don’t take your clothes off, we will burn you alive”.
A viral video of the incident that shows the horrific crime has caused outrage across the nation.
In an interview with Sky News, her mother wept, saying “my daughter is mentally not stable, she’s finding it difficult to cope, no words can express her condition”.
The bodies of her husband and son and that of 90 other victims are still in hospital mortuaries in the state capital, Imphal.
She continued: “I wish is that we no longer live together with those who raped and murdered us, I want to see the remains of my husband and son and give them a proper burial.”
There is no closure for Theim and Thang Piang, parents of 21-year-old university student Hanglalmuan Vaiphei.
He was picked up by the police for sharing a Facebook post criticising the chief minister and was whisked away to a jail in the capital.
Thiem lost her son in an attack
While returning from a court date under police custody he was snatched by a mob and beaten to death.
“He should have been alive today, even in this conflict,” Theim says, breaking down. “After all he was in the custody of the police and the government.
“I miss him so much, I am now broken emotionally, physically and mentally. Every time we are at the table I expect him to join me,” she says.
University student Hanglalmuan Vaiphei
She is not alone. At least 130 people have been killed in the ethnic clashes and there are no signs of it stopping.
In the Imphal valley, Meira Paibis or the “Women Torch bearers” comprising of Meitei mothers are gaining a notorious reputation of being vigilantes. They are revered for guarding the moral values of the community but are now on the forefront of this agitation.
They are everywhere, conducting stop and search on vehicles even including military trucks and soldiers.
Anima, a leader at one of the check posts in Bishnupur tells Sky News: “We are checking for weapons and bomb making materials that are being smuggled for the Kukis.”
On the video of the naked women being paraded, Anima says: “We absolutely condemn that incident. We burnt the house of the main perpetrator.
“But what about our girls that were raped and made homeless? We don’t have evidence or videos. Why is everyone so pre-occupied with that video only?”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘They burnt down our homes’
Violence spares no one. Hijam Singh, a Meitei from Imphal, is desperate for any news of his 17-year-old daughter.
Luwangbi Linthoingambi went missing more than three weeks ago after attending one of her classes. She and her friend were last seen on a motorbike going towards a tribal area.
“I feel she is very much alive, even when people say she would be dead. I feel she is alive,” he says.
Hijam Singh’s teenage daughter went missing
He says he is still hopeful as there have been no recoveries of her bag, clothes or a body. He has knocked on doors but for many like him there are more questions than answers in Manipur today.
Choking up, he says: “If my daughter is killed they may consider it a win. But if I can forgive that can also be a victory.”
US president-elect Donald Trump has suggested Israel and Hamas could agree a Gaza ceasefire by the end of the week.
Talks between Israeli and Hamas representatives resumed in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday, after US President Joe Biden indicated a deal to stop the fighting was “on the brink” on Monday.
A draft agreement has been sent to both sides. It includes provisions for the release of hostages and a phased Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at their “closest point” yet to a ceasefire deal.
Two Hamas officials said the group has accepted the draft agreement, with Israel still considering the deal.
An Israeli official said a deal is close but “we are not there” yet.
More than 46,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its ground offensive in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Read more:
What’s in the proposed deal?
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on beachfront cafe in Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters
Biden hails possibility of agreement
President Biden said it would include a hostage release deal and a “surge” of aid to Palestinians, in his final foreign policy speech as president.
“So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve peace,” he said.
“The deal would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”
Qatari mediators have sent Israel and Hamas a draft proposal for an agreement to halt the fighting.
Analysis:
Deal might be close, but there are many unanswered questions
Pic: Reuters
Trump: ‘We’re very close’
President-elect Donald Trump has also discussed a possible peace deal during a phone interview with the Newsmax channel.
“We’re very close to getting it done and they have to get it done,” he said.
“If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there, a lot of trouble, like they have never seen before.
“And they will get it done. And I understand there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week. But it has to take place, it has to take place.”
Read more:
Pope Francis honoured by Joe Biden
Donald Trump’s inauguration 2.0
Pic: AP
Israeli official: Former Hamas leader held up deal
Speaking on Tuesday as negotiations resumed in Qatar, an anonymous Israeli official said that an agreement was “close, but we are not there”.
They accused Hamas of previously “dictating, not negotiating” but said this has changed in the last few weeks.
“Yahya Sinwar was the main obstacle for a deal,” they added.
Sinwar, believed to be the mastermind of the 7 October attacks, led Hamas following the assassination of his predecessor but was himself killed in October last year.
Under Sinwar, the Israeli official claimed, Hamas was “not in a rush” to bring a hostage deal but this has changed since his death and since the IDF “started to dismantle the Shia axis”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Biden: ‘Never, never, never, ever give up’
Iran ‘weaker than it’s been in decades’
Yesterday, President Biden also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” the president said.
Mr Biden claimed America’s adversaries were weaker than when he took office four years ago and that the US was “winning the worldwide competition”.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are
weaker,” he said.
“We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
The US president is expected to give a farewell address on Wednesday.
A draft ceasefire deal on the table between Israel and Hamas would see 33 hostages set free and a phased withdrawal of IDF forces from parts of Gaza.
President Joe Biden said an agreement to stop the fighting was “on the brink” and high level negotiations between the two sides resumed in Qatar on Tuesday.
The deal would see a number of things happen in a first stage, with negotiations for the second stage beginning in the third week of the ceasefire.
It would also allow a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than a year of war.
Details of what the draft proposal entails have been emerging on Tuesday, reported by Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages hold photos of their loved ones during a protest on 8 January. Pic: AP
Hostages to be returned
In the first stage of the potential ceasefire, 33 hostages would be set free.
These include women (including female soldiers), children, men over the age of 50, wounded and sick.
Israel believes most of these hostages are alive but there has not been any official confirmation from Hamas.
In return for the release of the hostages, Israel would free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
People serving long sentences for deadly attacks would be included in this but Hamas fighters who took part in the 7 October attack would not be released.
An arrangement to prevent Palestinian “terrorists” from going back to the West Bank would be included in the deal, an anonymous Israeli official said.
Read more:
A timeline of events since the 7 October attacks
The hostages who still haven’t returned home
Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in Beit Hanoun in Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza
The agreement also includes a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, with IDF troops remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages.
Security arrangements would be implemented at the Philadelphi corridor – a narrow strip of land that runs along the border between Egypt and Gaza – with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.
The Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza would start to work gradually to allow the crossing of people who are sick and other humanitarian cases out of Gaza for treatment.
Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed to return to their homes, with a mechanism introduced to ensure no weapons are moved there.
“We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all our hostages are back home,” the Israeli official said.
What will happen to Gaza in the future?
There is less detail about the future of Gaza – from how it will be governed, to any guarantees that this agreement will bring a permanent end to the war.
“The only thing that can answer for now is that we are ready for a ceasefire,” the Israeli official said.
“This is a long ceasefire and the deal that is being discussed right now is for a long one. There is a big price for releasing the hostages and we are ready to pay this price.”
The international community has said Gaza must be run by Palestinians, but there has not been a consensus about how this should be done – and the draft ceasefire agreement does not seem to address this either.
In the past, Israel has said it will not end the war leaving Hamas in power. It also previously rejected the possibility of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited governing powers in the West Bank, from taking over the administration of Gaza.
Since the beginning of its military campaign in Gaza, Israel has also said it would retain security control over the territory after the fighting ends.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports9 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway