Imphal: "Those who knew Manu Nampibou and Dr. Engam Pame speak not of enemies, but of respect and love. They were men who made room for others. They were hands that lifted, legs that walked ahead and brothers who made the road less frightening for those following behind."
On 1 October 2026, the hills of Mizoram became witnesses to a tragedy that words can scarcely carry. A vehicle carrying three government information officers left the road near Sateek and plunged down a steep slope. By the time the news reached our villages, homes and institutions, the loss had already become personal.
Manu Nampibou Marinmai, a son of Chiang Village, Dr. Engam Pame, a son of Katang Village, and their Mizo colleague, H. Lianvela, were taken from this world while still in the service of the nation. The driver survived with serious injuries, but three families lost the beating heart of their homes, three offices lost dedicated servants, and our communities lost brothers whose lives had become sources of hope.
We mourn them deeply. Yet even in mourning, we must tell their stories. Their journeys cannot be reduced to designations, departments and dates. They were village boys who dreamed beyond the horizon, struggled without surrendering, and rose without forgetting the people who first believed in them.
Manu Nampibou Marinmai, IIS: The boy from Chiang who built bridges for others
Manu Nampibou Marinmai was born on 8 July 1962 to Late Maisetbou of the Khiuringamang family. His home was Chiang Village under Tamei Sub-Division in Tamenglong district. The hills that surrounded his childhood did not confine his imagination. They formed his character.
The record of his early life shows that leadership found him while he was still young. In 1979, he became President of the Chiang Students’ Union. The following year, he served as President of the Chiang Youth Club. In 1982, he was Cultural Secretary of the Liangmai Sports Association and Vice President of the Liangmai Katinah Ruangdi, Tamei Zone. By 1984, he had become Sports Secretary of the Liangmai Katinah Ruangdi, Manipur, and in 1986, he served as its Cultural Secretary.
These may appear as small entries in a curriculum vitae, but they reveal something greater. Long before he entered government service, Nampibou had already begun serving his people. He learned early that leadership was not a chair to be occupied, but a responsibility to be carried.
While in Shillong, he served as Vice President of the Zeliangrong Christian Fellowship in 1987, Acting President of the Zeliangrong Students’ Union, Shillong, in 1989, and its President in 1990. He also served as Joint Secretary of the Liangmai Katimai Ruangdi, Manipur, in 1988, and as General Secretary of the Liangmai Katimai Ruangdi, Manipur and Nagaland, in 1990.
One name, one village and one community kept appearing throughout his journey: Liangmai. Nampibou carried that identity proudly. He did not treat it as a detail from his past. He carried it as a calling.
When he reached Delhi, he saw young Liangmai students living far from home, often with little money, little comfort and no familiar face nearby. He understood their loneliness because he had known the cost of leaving home in search of a future. Instead of simply encouraging them from a distance, he went to them.
He became one of the principal forces behind the Liangmai Christian Fellowship in Delhi. What began in the early 1990s as a humble monthly gathering became a weekly fellowship, often held in the small rented rooms of students. These were not elaborate programmes. There were no large halls, no impressive stages and no comfortable resources. There were prayers, songs, conversations, shared meals and the warmth of people who suddenly remembered that they belonged to one another.
From those home-visit fellowships, a fuller church life emerged, eventually becoming a Sunday fellowship with regular worship. Nampibou served the Delhi fellowship as Secretary in 1994 and again in 1996, and later as its Chairman in 2017. The growth of that fellowship remains one of the quiet monuments of his life. It did not rise from wealth or influence. It rose from faithfulness.
His professional journey was equally remarkable. Before entering the Indian Information Service, he worked as a Political Correspondent with the news agency Newsmen. He joined (promoted) into the Indian Information Service in 1996, beginning as a Junior Grade Officer in the Press Information Bureau, New Delhi. From 1996 to 2001, he handled work connected with several ministries, including Information and Broadcasting, Sports and Youth Affairs, Minority Affairs, Civil Aviation, Surface Road Transport, Highways and Shipping.
From 2001 to 2005, he served as Assistant News Editor in the News Services Division of All India Radio, New Delhi. In 2005, he became News Editor of Doordarshan Imphal, where the News Service was established during his tenure. He then returned to New Delhi as Chief News Editor of the News Services Division, All India Radio, serving from 2006 to 2012.
His experience later carried him into field publicity and senior public relations responsibilities. He served as Assistant Director of the Directorate of Field Publicity in Guwahati from 2012 to 2015, while also holding charge as Officiating Director in Itanagar from 2013 to 2015. From 2015 to 2017, he served as Additional Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Defence, and from 2017 to 2022, as Defence Public Relations Officer.
During those years, he also held additional responsibilities as Officiating Director of Publicity in the Ministry of External Affairs from 2019 to 2020 and Officiating Director of Public Relations in the Ministry of Defence during 2017–2019 and again in 2021–2022. From 2017 to 2022, he served as Nodal Officer for both Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations under the Ministry of Defence.
In February 2023, he became Joint Director in the Ministry of Defence, before taking up the assignment that would bring him to the Northeast as Joint Director (News) of All India Radio and Doordarshan, Aizawl, in July that year. He subsequently served as Joint Director (News) of Doordarshan and the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Aizawl, until 31 December 2023. From January 2024, he was Director (News) of Doordarshan, All India Radio, and Officer on Special Duty (OSD), IIMC, Aizawl.
He had walked a long road, from Chiang to Shillong, from Delhi to Guwahati, Itanagar, Imphal and finally Aizawl. Yet every chapter of that journey still pointed back to the people from whom he had come.
Nampibou was admired not only for his professional competence, but for the manner in which he treated people. Those who knew him speak less of rivals and more of friends, less of conflict and more of cooperation. He had the rare gift of moving through demanding institutions without losing the gentleness of his upbringing.
He leaves behind his beloved wife, their son and daughter, and a family now asked to live with a wound that will not quickly heal. We pray that the same God who sustained him through long journeys and heavy responsibilities will now surround his wife and children with comfort, provision and peace.
Farewell, Manu Nampibou. The fellowship that found strength in rented rooms still carries your name. The students you encouraged still carry your voice. The community you loved still carries your memory.
Dr. Engam Pame, IIS: A Zeme son who turned struggle into a pathway for others, the true son of Luangdimai
Dr. Engam Pame was born on 30 November 1962 in Katang Village, Tamenglong district, into the family of Pauheu Pame, a government servant in Tamenglong. As the eldest among his siblings, he learned early that some children do not receive a clear road before them. They have to make one.
His educational journey began with kindergarten at Don Bosco School, Imphal. He then studied at Modern English School, Tamenglong, until Class VIII. For Classes IX and X, he went to Mizo Modern School, Shillong, and completed Classes XI and XII at St. Edmund’s School, Shillong.
Each move carried a cost. Leaving Tamenglong for Shillong required adjustment. Leaving Shillong for Delhi required still greater courage, especially for a young man from a large family with modest means. Yet he refused to allow financial difficulty to decide the size of his dreams.
In Delhi, he earned a BA with Honours in Political Science from Zakir Hussain College and then an MA in International Relations from the School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University. His presence in those institutions was not merely a personal victory. It became a signpost for other village children who wondered whether higher education and national responsibility were truly within their reach.
Before joining the Indian Information Service, Engam served briefly as an Apprentice Development Officer in LIC and as an Assistant Central Intelligence Officer in the Intelligence Bureau, Government of India. In 1994, he cleared the Civil Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission and joined the Indian Information Service.
His service eventually brought him to the position of Additional Director General, Press Information Bureau and Central Bureau of Communication, Regional Office, Imphal, with responsibility for Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura. It was a position of great responsibility, but those who knew him remember more than the office he occupied. They remember his energy, his humour, his discipline and his willingness to help.
During his university years, Engam earned a Third Dan Black Belt in Okinawa Martial Arts and taught the discipline to others. The dojo gave him more than physical strength. It gave him patience, control and the ability to face pressure without losing balance. He also completed a course in Naturopathy and came to be recognised as a doctor in that field.
He never stopped learning. He attended in-service training in Indonesia in 2003, London in 2005, Brisbane, Australia, and Berkeley University, California, in 2017. Even in July 2026, only a short while before his passing, he completed a Film Appreciation Course at FTII, Pune. This was the kind of man he was. He never treated education as something to complete once. For him, life itself remained a classroom.
Faith was the deepest current beneath everything he did. Baptised on 22 March 1981, Engam loved the church not as an institution alone, but as a family. He was a life member of Gideons International and actively participated in its ministry. Through the Haggai Ministry, he received Advanced Leadership Training in Hawaii. From 2021 to 2023, he served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Zeme Naga Baptist Church, Tamenglong. At the time of his passing, he was pursuing a Bachelor of Christian Studies through the Senate of Serampore University.
Wherever his duties took him, Delhi, Shillong, Imphal or elsewhere, he sought out fellowship and worship. He became a blessing in the places where he was posted, not because he demanded attention, but because he brought encouragement. People found in him a brother who could laugh with them, pray with them and stand with them.
Engam also loved the cultural and spiritual memory of his people. As chairman of the Makuiluangdi Festival 2025, he helped lead the trail from Makhel to Makuiluangdi, honouring the traditional account of the Naga dispersal believed to have occurred around two thousand years ago. His heart was also in Luangdilat Khuang, the effort to prepare a word book for the Luangdimai (Zeliangrong-Inpui) community. He knew that a people must remember their words if they are to remember themselves. A true son of the soil, a Luangdimai, as one of the pioneering leaders who stood for Luangdimai Philosophy, till his last.
In 1998, he married Ajuna Pame, and God blessed them with two children, Ening Pame and Erailu Pame. His family received the best of his affection, even as the nation received the strength of his labour. To Ajuna, Ening and Erailu, we offer our deepest sympathy. May the years he gave you become treasures that even grief cannot steal.
Engam’s life was proof that determination can carry a person from a village classroom to the highest levels of public service. He was a role model, not because his journey was easy, but because he refused to turn back when it became difficult. For every Zeme, Liangmai, Rongmei, Inpui, the Luangdimai (Zeliangrong-Inpui) youth, his life says: Your beginning does not have to determine your ending.
Farewell, Dr. Engam Pame. You reached the skies, and by reaching them, you taught us to raise our eyes.
H. Lianvela: A Mizo brother mourned with honour
The same tragedy also claimed the life of H. Lianvela, a Mizo officer from Chawlhhmun who was serving with CBC Aizawl. The information available to us tells only part of his story, but the response of Mizoram reveals the depth of the loss.
The Young Mizo Association, the people of Aizawl and the larger Mizo community received him not as a stranger, but as a son. Their dedicated search and rescue efforts, their tears and their public farewell at Tuikhuahtlang YMA Hall showed how deeply his life was valued.
To his family, friends and community, we extend our heartfelt condolences. Though we come from different tribes and speak in different dialects, sorrow has brought us to the same place. Today, the Liangmai and Zeme communities, the Zeliangrong-Inpui community stand beside our Mizo brothers and sisters in mourning H. Lianvela.
The Measure of Their Lives
When the mortal remains of these three officers were brought home, our people did not behave as though they were receiving distant government officials. They received sons. Their loss became a family’s loss, a village’s loss and a community’s loss.
Condolence messages came from the Luangdimai Citizens Forum, the Zeliangrong Students’ Union, Barak Zone, the Zeme Students’ Union, Assam, the Liangmai Naga Council (LNC), colleagues in PIB, AIR, Doordarshan and IMPCC, and many others. At Tuikhuahtlang YMA Hall, flowers covered the caskets while friends, colleagues and community leaders came forward to honour them.
Mizoram gave its sons and its guests a sorrowful but dignified farewell. People stood along the roads with tears in their eyes. Many carried in their hearts the quiet hope, “We shall meet on that beautiful shore.”
The respect shown to them was not merely for the offices they held. It was for the way they lived. Those who knew Manu Nampibou and Dr. Engam Pame speak not of enemies, but of respect and love. They were men who made room for others. They were hands that lifted, legs that walked ahead and brothers who made the road less frightening for those following behind.
Their passing has left us empowered by their example, yet weakened by their absence. We feel bereft because their work among us is unfinished. But perhaps that is now our calling. The fellowship Nampibou nurtured must continue. The dreams Engam embodied must continue. The bridges they built between village and institution, faith and public service, identity and national responsibility, must not be allowed to fall.
They lived with faithfulness, and the words of Scripture now rise over them like a final blessing:
“Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” - Matthew 25:23
- Farewell, Manu Nampibou Marinmai.
- Farewell, Dr. Engam Pame.
- Farewell, H. Lianvela.
May your souls rest in eternal peace.
Angam Niumai | Assistant Professor | Former HoD - FMS Department, NIFT Shillong, Ministry of Textiles, GOI | Interim Executive Member - Liangmai Academic Forum
Dr. Kailadbou Daimai | Assistant Professor | Department of Linguistics, Utkal University of Culture, Bhubaneswar | Interim Executive Member - Liangmai Academic Forum
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