Our Correspondent
Kohima, Dec. 17 (EMN): Thousands of protesters hit the streets in Nagaland state capital on Friday to protest the killing of 14 innocent civilians by the Indian security forces earlier this month in Mon district, demand justice for the victims and urge the Centre to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) organised the mass rally.
The protestors marched from Old MLA Hostel Junction to Raj Bhavan before submitting a memorandum to the Prime Minister of India through Nagaland Governor.
Addressing the gathering at Old MLA hostel Junction, NSF President Kegwayhun Tep informed that the rally was held to voice out the resentment of the Nagas against the oppressive AFSPA.
“For so long as AFSPA continues to exist, our lives, our land and our people will always be tormented by fear and uncertainty,” he stated.
He said that the Indian armed forces had unleashed terror and fear in the hearts and minds of the peace-loving citizens during the season of light, hope and healing.
‘We shall not shy away or be cowered down by such acts of terrorism. We shall not rest until justice is delivered and a logical closure is brought about,’ he said.
“Our journey as a people in itself has been a challenge, however, the blood of the thousand innocent civilians, the struggles of our people and the tears of our mothers will continue to guide and inspire our people through generations to come,’ he added. He said that Naga youth long for a peaceful future, “a future without war and conflict. We long to live in peace and at par with the rest of the world”.
Convenor of the Global Naga Forum, Chuba Ozukum said that “India has been at war with the Nagas for more than seven decades” and “is not satisfied having colonised Nagas, occupying our lands, and dividing our ancestral homeland”, he said.
The Supreme Court has sided with the Indian Army in the Oinam case (in Senapati, Manipur) by upholding the need for the AFSPA, which he said indicates the Centre’s wavered policy of “total occupation of the Naga homeland”
“India’s military campaign has never ceased in our land for all these decades,” he said, adding that ‘the Nagas’ choice is still between loss of human dignity or abuse and death’.
He called upon all Nagas to unite immediate repealing of AFSPA and be prepared to counter the oppressive presence of the Indian military in a peaceful and democratic way.
“We must be prepared for the psychological and political warfare that will come to us, unabated, through more recruitment, more convoys, more spies, more combing operations, and more appeasements with plump positions, handouts, and economic packages,” Ozukum added.
“The guns and boots will still roam free in our homeland, as they have for many decades, dragging us out of our cars and buses and trucks and lorries, frisking us and questioning our whereabouts as we struggle to make a living in our homeland. AFSPA is India’s weapon against the Naga struggle for freedom and political rights. India has been using AFSPA to suppress our rights and therefore nothing short of an honourable and acceptable political solution will resolve the nearly a century long Naga-India political issue. Nagas must unite and rededicate ourselves for self-determination as one people in our ancestral homeland,” he said.
The convenor went on to claim that under the Act East Policy, “India will exploit our resources by bulldozing our pristine biodiversity-rich homeland and dangling the developmental carrot before us. Let us not be fooled. The Indian government is abusing Nagas and our homeland to supposedly protect India’s territorial integrity and sovereignty against attacks by foreign neighbours. That is to say, Nagas have been India’s sacrificial lambs for too long”.
He also appealed to the United Nations and world leaders to question India’s track record of human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the Naga homeland in the last seven decades.
The Global Naga Forum will be forwarding its Oting Fact Finding Mission report to expert mechanism channels in the UN, he informed.
Advisor of the North East Students’ Organisation (NESO), Dr. Samujjal Bhattacharya said that the indigenous people of the seven north-eastern states are with the Nagas. “Don’t think that Nagas are alone. The seven (NE) states are with the Nagas,” he said, adding that it had initiated a movement to repeal AFSPA through the region.
He further called upon the Centre not to treat NE like a “second class citizen”.
To show sincerity, the government must “give exemplary punishment to those security forces” who had killed the innocent Nagas in Oting village. Because, “inquiry” and giving “statements” are not convincing, he said.
The Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent statement in the parliament showed Centre’s “insincerity” towards the people of the Northeast, he said while seeking his apology.
“Don’t try to play divisive policy in the NE,” he said, adding that AFSPA should be removed from the entire Northeast as all the indigenous people of the region face the same problem as the Nagas.
“How many lives do you (Centre) want to repeal AFSPA,” he asked. “If you want more lives, I am the first to give my life to repeal AFSPA,” he added.
Advisor of the Naga Mothers’ Association, Prof. Rosemary Dzuvichu said: “Let this be the end of losing more lives. Let this be the end of rapes, molestation, killing of our daughters. We are yet to see justice, justice for the decades of militarisation in our Naga homeland. The AFSPA from 1958 till today harasses us in our homes, in our fields, in our jungles, in our towns, in our schools and churches.”
‘For the Indian army there is no border for this kind of criminal activities. But, Nagas have lost sons, husbands and children and women have been raped,’ she added.
Some of the other prominent leaders who addressed the gathering included Neingulo Krome, secretary general of NPMHR, Dr. P Ngully, representing the FNR, and ENSF vice president Sepikyu J Sangtam.
In its memorandum to the President of India, the NSF demanded “immediate justice for the Oting victims and expedite judgements and delivery of justice to all pending cases related to excesses committed by the Indian Armed Forces upon Nagas”
It asked the government of India (GoI) to set up a court-monitored committee headed by a retired Supreme Court/High court judge in order to ensure a fair and impartial probe into the Oting and Mon incidents.
The Centre must admit to the utter failure of its intelligence agencies and publicly apologise to the Naga people for furthering their subjugation of the Nagas through its policy of militarisation, it stated while demanding immediate withdrawal of AFSPA from the Naga-inhabited areas.
The federation wonders why India is thrust the draconian law upon the Nagas when the Indo-Naga political dialogue being held at the Prime Minister’s level is at a crucial stage.
“Further, the prevailing law and order situation in the Naga-inhabited areas does not merit the Act which has only been used as a tool for psychological warfare against the Naga people. It is only because of AFSPA that the Indian armed forces continue to operate with impunity while forgetting all values and virtues that inhibits a sober soul,” read the memorandum.
While urging the Centre to expedite Naga political solution, it said the sacrifices of many Nagas, both dead and alive, is not only a struggle for Naga identity but also a struggle for self determination.
“It is in this background that NSF made its standpoint crystal clear that economic packages or monetary assistance cannot purchase the rights of the Naga people. The envisaged solution must be mutually agreed upon on the negotiating table and not an imposed one. Rather, the GoI should not hesitate from allowing the Naga people to retain their legitimate rights,” the NSF stated.