The clamour for withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the State is only getting louder.
Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC), in a representation to President Ram Nath Kovind, copies of which were marked to governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi and chief minister Neiphiu Rio, demanded withdrawal of AFSPA and “Disturbed Area” tag from Nagaland.
NTC president Toniho Yepthomi and general secretary Nribemo Ngullie in their representation stated categorically that if peace was to be given a chance, then civilian killings and atrocities should be stopped. They said if government of India was honest and sincere at ceasefire and dialogue, then the Disturbed Area tag and AFSPA 1958 cannot be imposed on Nagaland.
Alleging that the “double standard” policy of Centre proved that Nagaland was brought to the Union to be suppressed indefinitely, NTC urged President to take immediate steps and impress upon the Centre to revoke extension of “Disturb Areas” tag and AFSPA in Nagaland forthwith.
They requested the “highest authority of this great democratic country” to use his wisdom and revoke the Act once and for all in order to restore confidence among the victimised people of Nagaland in particular and the Northeast in general.
They recalled that they had submitted a memorandum to the governor on June 14, 2016 seeking revocation of AFSPA along with the “power to declare areas to be disturbed areas”, and similar representation to the chief minister on March 18, 2017.
According to the NTC leaders, government of India invoked the draconian Act and declared the entire State “Disturbed” without any proper assessment of ground reality every time, before authorising armed forces to enforce AFSPA on the pretext of dealing with insurgency whereby innocent civilians became victim.
Claiming that entire Nagaland was now peaceful as all NPGs were having ceasefire with the Centre, they reasoned that there was no reason why AFSPA should be imposed on the State along with the “Disturbed Areas” tag.
They said the State had been peaceful for the past 24 years with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself having announced during inauguration of Hornbill Festival at Kisama on December 1, 2015 that solution to the Naga political issue would be found “within 18 months”. They added that the dialogue between government of India and NPGs had culminated on October 31, 2019 while “all unresolved matters shall be pursued through democratic political process post-solution”.
Stating that Nagas were eagerly expecting a solution before Christmas as “Christmas gift” as assured by both government of India representatives for Naga peace talks and State’s political leaders, they regretted that the people had been on the contrary presented with the ruthless massacre of 13 unarmed Konyak innocent brothers by Indian armed forces at Oting village in Mon district on December 4, which made many orphans and widows.
Terming the incident as unfortunate and the “mistaken identity” and regret by the authority as unqualified, the representation demanded that the armed forces responsible for the criminal act should be brought to justice in the interest of justice without delay. The charter of demands for the victimised people must also be fulfilled at the earliest, it insisted.
Accusing the armed forces of having committed atrocities on innocent public for over 60 years, including defiling places of worship places, Yepthomi and Ngullie stressed that this should not be allowed to happen again.
They questioned the wisdom of the Centre of entering into ceasefires agreements with armed groups and holding political dialogues, while forcing upon the people AFSPA, which gave the armed forces special powers to search, raid and arrest without a warrant as though it was a terrorist-infested State, causing untold hardships to civilians.
They said olive branches were offered to peace-loving Naga people on one hand, while a war was waged against the innocent civilians during ceasefire period on the other.
“Peace and War are never the same, and the two cannot go together. Unless AFSPA is revoked, the trigger-happy armed forces are bound to abuse the provisions of the Act. Nagas are not wild animals or beasts to be hunted down at the whims of Indian armed forces. We are also humans like anyone else in the mainland,” the representation pointed out.