- DIMAPUR — The National Highway Area Village
Councils’ Forum, comprising 13 villages located along the four-lane stretch of
National Highway 29, has announced a six-hour ‘shutters down’ protest on June
11 from 6 am to 12 noon.
- The protest is being organised to express “resentment,
anguish and unhappiness” over the unresolved May 23 incident at Unity village
and other concerns related to ongoing factional activities in the state.
- According to a statement issued by the forum on Monday, the
protest comes in the wake of the “dastardly act” committed at Unity village,
for which several perpetrators were reportedly named in the FIR filed by the
Unity Village Council but are yet to be apprehended.
- The forum alleged that “Ceasefire Ground Rules have been
blatantly violated by almost all the factions which have entered into Ceasefire
Agreements with the government of India on numerous occasions and the
defaulters walk away with impunity and indulge in similar criminal activities
without any fear of the law or of any repercussions.”
- Further, designated Ceasefire Monitoring Offices have been
converted into “safe havens for criminals who commit crimes and take refuge in
these offices,” and the security forces or law enforcement agencies are “left
hapless owing to defective restrictions contained in the CF Ground Rules which
restrain them, the law enforcers, to enter these places and apprehend the
culprits,” it stated.
Also read: NSCN/GPRN (Khango) issues apology over May 23 incident
- The forum also raised concerns over the impact of factional
activities on the general public, citing issues such as “illegal taxes on
business establishments and traders, on village councils… abduction and torture
of innocent civilians.”
- It further criticised the “deafening silence” of the
government of India over the Naga political issue, even though the peace talks
were reportedly concluded on October 31, 2019.
- As part of the protest, black flags will be displayed in
front of all shops and business establishments along the NH-29 corridor. The
forum has appealed to all “like-minded villages, business bodies and urban
local bodies” across Nagaland to join the protest in solidarity.
