On Sunday evening, the State President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Nagaland, Temjen Imnaalong, released a condemnation statement on the civilian killings that took place on Saturday evening in Nagaland.
The BJP state president expressed that he was “deeply anguished and heartbroken by the killing of 13 innocent Oting Villagers last evening by the Assam Rifles at Tinu arca, Mon district.” He also said that he strongly condemned the incident in the highest terms possible.
“The Govemment of India and the Naga political groups are engaged in a peace process and at the
threshold of settlement to the protracted Naga political issue, ” the statement read, adding, “it is a time to exercise extreme caution and patience in order to maintain hard earned peace after decades of violent, armed struggle.”
The statement also said that there could “never be any justification of such kind of massacre targeting innocent civilians.”
The “innocent victims were labourers returning from a hard day’s work and were not armed with any firearms whalsocver.” And, It is “therefore tantamount to war crimes during peace time and amounts to summary execution as well as genocide.”
The statement also said that the act was intolerable “and simply putting the blame on intelligence failure is the lamest excuse.”
Demanding justice for the innocent lives lost, the BJP State president in the statement said, “The rogue Assam Rifles personnel responsible for this henious crime have to be brought to justice and made to answer truthfuly as to how innocent, unarmed persons were gunned down; why the AR could not discern that the 6 persons in the pick up truck were unarmed, innocent civilians; on what basis the commanding officer gave the firing order etc.”
This incident is a very big discouragement to the Nagas as a whole, especially at a time when one of our very own Konyak Nagason from Tizit area itselfwas martyred in an ambush in Manipur not evena month back, the statement pointed.
“Why do you kill our sons when our sons are also the ones making supreme sacrifices for the country?” Asked the BJP state president.
The state president also “appealed to the Govemment of India and the State Government to provide immediate ex-gratia to the next of kin of the victims followed by additional compensatory measures.”
The Naga people stand united as a whole, with our Konyak brothers and sislers, the state president declared.
Concluding the statement, he assured the Nagas that “We mourn with you.We feel the pain and anguish equally. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the members of the bercaved families. We wish the injured person(s) a specdy recovery. May the departed souls rest in eternal peace.”
It is pertinent to mention that the Nagaland government snapped the mobile internet services in order to control the law and order situation after 13 civilians were killed in a firing incident in Mon district, on Sunday.
“Mobile internet/data services/ bulk SMS of all providers in the entire area of Mon district prohibited with immediate effect until further notice,” Nagaland Home Commissioner Abhijit Sinha said in an order.
Meanwhile, ordering a Court of Inquiry into the incident, the Army said that one of its personnel was also killed and several others were seriously injured. It said that the incident and its aftermath is “deeply regretted” and the unfortunate loss of lives is being investigated at the highest level.
The Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, assured high-level inquiry into the incident. “Anguished over unfortunate incident in Nagaland’s Oting, Mon. I express my deepest condolences to families of those who have lost their lives. A high-level SIT constituted by State govt will thoroughly probe this incident to ensure justice to the bereaved families,” he said.
On Sunday afternoon however, another person was killed and one more injured, after locals entered a camp of the Assam Rifles to protest against Saturday’s killings, as reported by Scroll.in.
“The personnel of Assam Rifles, a paramilitary force that operates under the Indian Army, fired on the protestors, who allegedly tried to demolish some of the structures in the camp,” Sinha added, as per Scroll.in.