Guwahati: The Nagaland Assembly Monday passed a resolution to demand the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the northeast in view of the “botched” security forces ambush in the state’s Mon district earlier this month, leading to the death of 13 civilians.
“The Nagaland Legislative Assembly unanimously resolves to demand that the Government of India repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 from the North East, and specifically from Nagaland, so as to strengthen the ongoing efforts to find a peaceful political settlement to the Naga political issue,” stated the resolution, which was passed in a special session of the Assembly.
A total of six civilians lost their lives in the ambush in Mon district on 4 December, followed by a mob attack on the forces’ camp, which led to the death of seven more civilians. The Army has said that one of its soldiers also lost his life. On 5 December, a mob had also allegedly vandalised a camp of the Assam Rifles in Mon town, leading to the another civilian being killed. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had the described the 4 December incidents as a “case of mistaken identity”.
In the days following the incident, protests broke out in several parts of Nagaland and Manipur. Last week, thousands took to the street in a protest organised by the Nagaland Students’ Federation (NSF) in Kohima. The protesters handed over a memorandum to the Governor, addressed to PM Modi, demanding the repeal of AFSPA. They had also asked for “immediate justice for the Oting villagers” in Mon district, “and expediting of the “Naga political solution”.
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What the resolution says
The resolution adopted in Monday’s assembly session stated, “The House calls for an apology from the appropriate authority, along with an assurance that justice will be delivered by applying the laws of the land upon those who perpetrated the inhuman massacre and upon those who are responsible for the incident.”
The House also appealed to “citizens of Mon district, its civil societies, the citizens of the State and mass-based organisations to extend cooperation to the Government and its agencies in our collective efforts to demand justice, and to restore normalcy in the interest of all the citizens”.
“The Naga people have been crying for peace and an early solution for the long pending Naga Political Issue…The House, therefore, once against appeals to the negotiating parties of the Indo-Naga political dialogue to bring the talks to its logical conclusion by reaching a settlement that is honourable and inclusive at the earliest,” the resolution added.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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