Dimapur, April 10 (MExN): The NSCN (IM) on Saturday accused the Indian armed forces personnel (Assam Rifles in particular) of “deliberately violating the Cease Fire Ground Rules (CFGRs)” agreed between the NSCN (IM) and Government of India (GoI) not to set up any camp at the Dimapur-Hebron road.
It has been almost two years since the AR personnel began stationing at Doyapur which is situated on the way to the NSCN’s Council Headquarters (CHq), Hebron, it stated in a press release on April 10.
“The AR personnel under the direction of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), GoI has deliberately set up an outpost at Doyapur without any regard to the prior agreement and has been keeping a sharp eye on NSCN members going in and out of Hebron,” it alleged.
The NSCN (IM) further stated that the “AR personnel armed with guns and registry and assisted by the installed CCTV cameras and smart-phones fitted on their chests stops and checks every passing vehicle.”
Terming it a ‘deliberate act of harassment in the name of law and order’, the NSCN (IM) denounced the “willful act of invasion and intrusion of privacy upon individuals and organizations despite no law and order problem in the area.”
Such acts of the AR are completely adverse to the peace initiatives of the GoI and NSCN, it added.
The NSCN (IM) said that the AR personnel apply “five different levels of harassment upon commuters in their attempt to extract information about the movements and identities of NSCN members and well-wishers.”
Their first level during the initial days of setting up the outpost was simply to note down the numbers of every passing vehicle. The second level went up a few steps by asking commuters where they come from, where they are going and what their professions are.
The third level, it stated, was to ask commuters their names, surnames/titles, tribes and even phone numbers.
They started going to the extent of detaining commuters for a longer period of time to apply the forth level of harassment consisting of stopping and checking one’s handbag/rucksack, irrespective of the mode of transport, the NSCN (IM) further alleged.
At times, while stopping the bus they would go over to check passengers randomly and tell any passenger to come down for ‘question and answer’ on different pretext, it added.
The fifth level, it said, was when commuters travelling alone would be frisked and their vehicle searched in the absence of any witness.
Besides all these, the AR personnel are checking and frisking commuters without following COVID-19 safety measures/SOPs, the NSCN (IM) stated.
The NSCN (IM) further stated that “all the raids against the NSCN members and establishments are done under the directions of the MHA.”
Terming the activities of the AR at Doyapur as completely against the ongoing peaceful political negotiation, the NSCN (IM) said that it sees no logic in setting up an outpost of the AR at Doyapur while the Indo-Naga peace process is going on.
It urged the GoI to ensure that every clause of the Peace Agreement is respected by curtailing the disruptive activities of the AR.
“The setting up of the AR outpost at Dimapur-Hebron road is a blatant violation of the agreement and the NSCN strongly objects to the provocative activities of the AR personnel at Doyapur main road and reminds the GoI for its withdrawal in the larger interest of the Indo- Naga peace process,” it asserted.
