Dimapur, Feb. 9: The Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) has rejected the one-man Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC) formed by the state government to probe the January 31 violence. On Wednesday last, the state government had picked retired judge, LN Sema as the sole member of the JIC.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday evening, JCC convener, Supu Jamir said: “The JCC and the NTAC rejects the one-man JIC as it cannot comprehend the magnitude of violence that erupted on January 31 in the entire state.”
The JCC, he said, was of the view that every inquiry commission set up by the state government on earlier occasions did not perform as it ought to. “Or in other words, (the commissions did not) act impartially to meet the ends of justice.”
It urged the state government to expand the members of the JIC to at least three, “out of which one should be from NGOs”. The JCC has also asked the state government to suspend the former commissioner of Dimapur police and the police officials responsible for the firing at Longleng “before the JIC sets into motion.”
‘Speaker has insulted Naga people’
JCC members also said that the speaker of Nagaland Legislative Assembly, Chotisuh Sazo has insulted the Naga people by saying that the calls made for resignation of chief minister TR Zeliang was “by some quarters to the society”.
The JCC, said Supu, ‘wonders as to why he is still not in a position to understand the voice of the people’.
Vekhosayi Nyekha, co-convener of the JCC, said that the role of the speaker was supposed to be neutral. “By supporting the chief minister’s wrongdoing, he has tarnished the good office of the speaker. His role is confined to the Nagaland Legislative Assembly only.”
He said that Sazo was ‘performing beyond his assigned duty’ as the speaker of NLA, and that it was ‘shameful’ for him not to know the meaning of democracy.
Also, on the speaker’s assertion that the chief minister was not elected by the people but by the representatives of the people, Supu reminded Sazo that all the 60 MLAs were elected by the people. “And among those 60 MLAs, the chief minister is selected. Therefore, the speaker should bear in mind that the CM cannot be selected or chosen from outside the 60 elected representatives”, he said.
Further reminding that the 3-day ultimatum given by the NTAC and the JCC would expire on Friday, Supu said that ‘if TR Zeliang still stands adamant, it is made clear that there will be ugly consequences in the state for which TR Zeliang and his cronies will be solely responsible’.
It also announced that NST bus services have been exempted from the purview of its bandh on government vehicles.
