A notification issued by the Home Department, Government of Nagaland, read, 'Whereas, there is apprehension of grave law and order problems in Mon District, Nagaland owing to the prevailing situation created by firing incidents today, leading to the death of several persons in Tiru Oting village area under Tizit and Naginimora sub-divisions.'
In a relief to 30 Army personnel, the Supreme Court on Tuesday closed the criminal proceedings initiated against them by the Nagaland government for allegedly killing 13 civilians in a 2021 botched operation to ambush militants in Mon district for want of prosecution sanction.
'It is in the interest of China and Pakistan to give a bad name to the Indian Army and remove AFSPA 'completely' from the north east.' 'Hopefully, better sense will prevail and the ground realities of the army countering insurgency in the north east acknowledged,' asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
The sanction by the Government of India is mandatory for intitiating legal suit against any personnel of the security forces for any action taken by them while discharging their duties under section 197(2) Cr.P.C and Section 6 of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), the release said.
Rifleman Khatnei Knoyak of 46 Assam Rifles, the country's oldest paramilitary force, was killed on Saturday, November 14, by terrorists in Manipur's Churachandpur district.
Top organisations of the Konyak tribe in Nagaland have announced a set of regulations, including 'strict non-cooperation' with the army, saying the people will follow them until justice is served in the killing of 14 civilians by security forces in a botched up operation and its aftermath in the North-eastern state earlier this month.
Konyak Union spokesperson T Yanlem said that there was no question of acting in 'self-defence' because those killed were unarmed civilians.
The resolution moved by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio was adopted by voice vote during the one-day special session of the Assembly held to discuss the AFSPA, 1958, and its application to Nagaland in the aftermath of the killing of 14 civilians by security forces, including six in a botched anti-terrorist operation, and eight others in subsequent incidents in Mon district on December 4 and 5.
The state government has also decided to write to the Centre demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, they said.
Addressing a press conference, minister Neiba Kronu said members of the government's Core Committee on the Naga political issue will have a meeting with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), in Kohima on December 9 to decide on the approach in the aftermath of the civilian killings.
Sources within the security forces said the unit had deployed different teams for surveillance and ambush after receiving the inputs about the movement of terrorists in the Tiru area of the Mon district of Nagaland.
Six tribes under Eastern Nagaland People's Organisation and a few other tribes decided to refrain from participating in the cultural programmes.
The villagers of Oting in Nagaland's Mon district and families of the 14 people killed in the shootings by security forces refused any government compensation until the personnel involved are 'brought to justice'.
The 'Angh' of Oting, Tahwang, is contesting the February 27 assembly polls on a Naga People's Front (NPF) ticket against the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party MLA P Paiwang Konyak, who is a cabinet minister in the outgoing government.
In a statement, the Army said the cause of the 'unfortunate' loss of lives is being investigated by the Court of Inquiry at the 'highest level' and appropriate action will be taken as per the course of the law.
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Sunday said that the Centre has decided to institute a five-member committee to look into withdrawal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 from the northeastern state.
A delegation of Congress leaders, including Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi and All India Congress Committee general secretaries Jitendra Singh and Ajoy Kumar were stopped at Jorhat airport by the district administration on Wednesday when they were on way to Nagaland, where the Army gunned down 13 civilians in a botched anti-surgency operation.
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Sunday ordered a high-level probe into the reported killings of civilians.
The team also visited Tizit Police Station to meet the cross section of the society including civilians, police personnel and doctors who treated the injured for obtaining valuable information, he said.
Discussions and deliberations need to be held on the purpose of imposing AFSPA and how to revoke it, Rio said during the public funeral of the 14 daily wage earners of a coal mine, who were shot dead by security forces on Saturday at Oting village on their way home from work.
The top court also issued notices to the Centre, Nagaland government and others on two pleas filed by the wives of Army officers named in the case.
The people of Oting in Mon district in the northeastern state said they will erect a monolith in memory of the 14 people on the first anniversary of the killings.
The AFSPA is in force in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur (excluding Imphal Municipal Council Area), Changlang, Longding and Tirap districts of Arunachal Pradesh, and areas falling within the jurisdiction of eight police stations of districts in Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam.
The mob went on a rampage, demanding immediate action against the security personnel involved in the killing of the 13 people, they said.
Army Chief Gen MM Naravane on Wednesday described as 'highly regrettable' the December 4 firing incident in Nagaland's Mon district in which 14 civilians were killed and said 'appropriate action,' as required to uphold the law of the land, would be taken based on the investigation.
AFSPA confers special powers on the armed forces in areas deemed as disturbed.
The National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah on Wednesday said no peace talks were possible 'under the shadow' of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and termed Union home minister Amit Shah's statement in Parliament on the botched counter-insurgency operation as 'irresponsible.'
The National Investigation Agency on Thursday announced rewards ranging from Rs 4 lakh to 8 lakh for "information of importance" on insurgents involved in the attack that killed an Assam Rifles colonel and his family in Manipur last November.
The extension comes three days after the Centre constituted a high-level committee under the chairmanship of Registrar General and Census Commissioner Vivek Joshi with Additional Secretary in the Union Home Ministry Piyush Goyal as its Member-Secretary.
Breaking their silence after four days of a shoot-out in which 13 of their village youth died in firing by Para commandos, the Oting Citizens Office, representing Oting village in Nagaland's remote Mon district on Wednesday rubbished official claims and asserted security forces had tried to hide the dead bodies and dress them in fatigues in a bid to pass them off as militants after a botched up ambush.
'Increased help from China to North East insurgents will create more trouble for us.'
The first firing which killed six civilians, occurred when army personnel mistook coal mine workers returning home in a pick-up van singing songs on Saturday evening, to be insurgents belonging to the Yung Aung faction of the banned outfit National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K), about whose movements they had been tipped-off.
Investigation has revealed that the Special Force Operation team had not followed the Standard Operating Procedure and the Rules of Engagement
Two of the three ONGC employees who were abducted allegedly by suspected United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) leaders on April 21, have been rescued.
Saikia, kidnapped on April 21, was released near the border in Longwa village of Mon district in Nagaland after 31 days, said a top official at Assam Police headquarters.
The inquiry will focus on the "intelligence" and the "circumstances" on which Saturday's operation was based on.
'We shouldn't allow it to become a rallying point for others in the region against the army.'
Demand for repeal of the act found echoes in the nation's Parliament with National People's Party (NPP) MP Agatha Sangma, a former Minister in the United Progressive Alliance government, terming the act as 'the elephant in the room which (needs to) be addressed' and seeking the 'draconian' Act be repealed.
The Army made no attempt to ascertain the identity of the civilians returning from work on a pick-up truck before shooting them in Nagaland's Mon district on Saturday, a joint report by the state's Director General of Police T John Longkumer and Commissioner Rovilatuo Mor has said.
Over 83 per cent of the more than 13 lakh electorate cast their vote on Monday in the single-day Nagaland state election which passed off by and large peacefully, Chief Electoral Officer V Shashank Shekhar said.
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