Nagaland: NSCN (Niki) clarifies on July 28 incident

Cease Fire Supervisory Board (CFSB) of NSCN (Niki) has clarified that the group did not abduct any shopkeeper as alleged by law enforcing agency in Dimapur, but rather picked up for questioning and subsequently released.
In a statement, CFSB claimed that on receiving an official complaint from a kilonser that he was physically assaulted by the shopkeeper for no valid reason in Nagarjan area on July 28, 2022, the group had summoned the shopkeeper to appear ats its office for questioning.
It claimed that the “kilonser being a simple and elderly gentleman was manhandled and pushed to the ground but somehow managed to escape after onlookers finally intervened.”
As the shopkeeper did not bother to cooperate despite being asked to appear in person before the authority of Naga People’s Government to record his statement of the incident, the group was compelled to pick him up on July 29, but not abducted as alleged by the police.
At the time of picking the shopkeeper, public who were present in the area were made aware of the reason why the he was being picked up, the group claimed.
On questioning, the shopkeeper confessed to have assaulted the elderly man for no reason and apologised for the senseless act he had committed.
But while the shopkeeper was being questioned, CFSB said it received an information that a case had been registered with the police for alleged abduction of the shopkeeper.
CFSB clarified that it was not aware of the incident as the case was not within its purview, but nevertheless took up the matter urgently and got it ascertained from authority handling the case and passed on the same to the police with a clarification that the person had not been abducted but summoned for questioning and would be released after completing the formalities.
After recording his statement, the board said the group had released the shopkeeper the same day itself and entrusted two of its staff to drop him at the spot from where he was picked up. However, the police, even after being officially informed and clarified by CFSB that the shopkeeper was not abducted but was summoned for questioning, waylaid and intercepted the vehicle assigned to drop the shopkeeper at Nagarjan and arrested the two staff and claimed to have rescued the shopkeeper, the statement alleged.
As people’s government, CFSB claimed NSCN/GPRN was striving for the rights and aspirations of the people and did not resort to unethical and anti-social activities that were against the norms of a healthy and a peaceful society.
CFSB further clarified that as NSCN/GPRN had reached the ceasefire to pave way for peace and prosperity and expected sincere cooperation from all sections of the society not be hurled upon with such baseless allegation to serve the vested interests of a few.
CFSB said it was unaware of the occurrence of the incident but followed up the matter promptly on being informed by the police of the alleged abduction and clarified the matter to the police.
As a trusted facilitator between NSCN/GPRN and different Indian agencies, including those of the State government, the board stressed that the police should trust it and also have respect and due regards towards one another in the larger interests of all concerned.