KOHIMA, DECEMBER 5 (MExN): The Global Naga Forum (GNF) today reiterated their appeal that the culprits of the Oting and Mon killings are prosecuted under civil law so that justice and a measure of closure can be afforded to the families of the victims. It further appealed that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) be immediately repealed.
A press release from the media cell of the GNF reminded how a year ago on December 4 Indian army commandos killed 14 innocent civilians and wounded several in Mon district, Nagaland.
“The personal tragedies of the families continue without recourse because Government of India has done nothing to prosecute the guilty, despite the state government-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) naming 30 army personnel involved in the killings,” the GNF stated.
It expressed outrage at the “repeated violations by Indian armed forces of Naga people’s basic rights to life itself, and to self-determination and peace in our own homelands.” The violations go back to the mid-1950s military invasion by India to put down the Naga people’s movement for self-governance and to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act of 1958 (AFSPA), it pointed out. “And the violations have not stopped since. The Oting and Mon killings were not aberrations, but a predictable consequence of, Indian policy and military law under AFSPA,” the GNF added.
Further, the GNF cited the incident on September 24, 2022 where explosive device was planted in Puilang (Kambiron) village, Tamenglong District, Manipur. “The IED was planted by army personnel of the 87th Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Battalion at Kambiron, at the instruction of commanding Inspector Dogra Singh and in collusion with the 39th Assam Rifles of Nungba HQ Tamenglong district, Manipur,” it alleged. “This was the fourth such device planted in the Nungba area in the last four years by the Assam Rifles,” it claimed.
Two weeks prior to that, the GNF said that the Assam Rifles “forcefully occupied nine Naga villages in neighboring district of Ukhrul, Manipur.” And, in April of 2022, in the Naga area of Tirap, Changlang, and Longding District of Arunachal Pradesh, the 12 Para Special Commando Force shot at Chasa Villagers who were returning to their village after a day of fishing, the GNF reminded. As four youths were climbing up the hill towards their village the Commando unit shot at them from the back, injuring two of them, it stated.
“The reason all these military crimes against Nagas keep happening repeatedly and predictably is AFSPA, which has been in force for 64 years running, even during ceasefire periods and now, while the Government of India is supposedly in the final stages of negotiations with the Nagas for a peaceful resolution of the 75-year old Indo-Naga political problem,” the forum said.
The GNF meanwhile appreciated “foreign governments and international communities for raising questions about the legitimacy of AFSPA” in the United Nation Human Rights Council (UNHCR), during the 4th Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), held in Geneva in November 2022.
“Representatives of fourteen foreign governments objected to AFSPA for violating people’s rights in one way or another, a few recommending its repeal. The countries include USA, Germany, Norway, Belgium, Estonia, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Brazil, Lithuania, Italy, Pakistan, and Greece,” it informed.
The GNF hoped that the Government of India will act responsibly by repealing AFSPA, so India can be in compliance with obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
