In a sharp re­ac­tion to the killings of in­no­cent civil­ians in Na­ga­land by the In­dian army, the Naga Peo­ple’s Move­ment for Hu­man Rights Move­ment has con­demned the role of the In­dian army which con­tin­ues to maim and kill with im­punity. The re­puted hu­man rights body of Na­ga­land -the Naga Peo­ples’ Move­ment for Hu­man Rights (NPMHR) has res­olutely con­demned the das­tardly killings of in­no­cent civil­ian vil­lagers in the Mon town dis­trict of Na­ga­land. While me­dia re­ports men­tion 15 killed, those killed and in­jured could be much more. WSN re­ports.

As the Naga fes­tiv­ity sea­son was about to be­gin, came the shock­ing and dis­turb­ing news that more than 15 civil­ians have been killed by the In­dian Army in a case of ‘mis­taken iden­tity.’ The Na­ga­land Chief Min­is­ter and the In­dian Home Min­istry have re­gret­ted the in­ci­dent and or­dered a probe. Lam­bast­ing the gov­ern­ment for its geno­ci­dal acts against Na­gas, in a strongly-worded state­ment is­sued in Ko­hima, the NPMHR has called the killings a part of the geno­ci­dal plan of In­dia to kill the Na­gas.

The state­ment of the re­puted Naga hu­man rights body states, “We squarely hold the Gov­ern­ment of In­dia with all its dra­con­ian and fas­cist laws re­spon­si­ble for let­ting loose their dogs of war (read In­dian army) to maul to shreds the in­no­cent vil­lagers of Ot­ing who have com­mit­ted no crime what­so­ever ex­cept a com­mit­ment to humbly earn their liveli­hood with dig­nity and ho­n­our.”

The state­ment men­tions that the In­dian Army op­er­a­tions are still con­tin­u­ing and “the In­dian mil­i­tary and para-mil­i­tary forces are still en­gaged in their may­hem of killing the civil­ians in Mon Town. Our an­guish is un­speak­able at this mo­ment of grief. Our hearts go to the fam­i­lies of the slain in­no­cent vil­lagers. The NPMHR stands with them all and shall walk with them through thick and thin.”

The Sec­re­tariat of the NPMHR has strongly stated that “Ever since mil­i­tary ag­gres­sion and oc­cu­pa­tion of the Naga home­land in 1954, civil­ians and com­mon Naga peo­ple have been the tar­get of the In­dian Army and the para-mil­i­tary forces.”

“Ever since mil­i­tary ag­gres­sion and oc­cu­pa­tion of the Naga home­land in 1954, civil­ians and com­mon Naga peo­ple have been the tar­get of the In­dian Army and the para-mil­i­tary forces.”

Shar­ing their acute pain and agony, the state­ment reads, “Our women folk were stripped of all hu­man dig­nity by the armed forces of the world’s largest democ­racy, In­dia. They are be­ing raped, tor­tured, made to give birth pub­licly with no more hu­man dig­nity left and are be­ing sub­jected to live lives of un­told trauma and heavy men­tal bur­dens.”

The In­dian State does not spare any of its armed tools and oc­cu­pa­tional in­stru­ments to ex­tin­guish the Naga spirit of hu­man dig­nity and spirit of equal hu­man broth­er­hood. The world is pre­vented from know­ing these cease­less state-spon­sored crimes against the Naga peo­ple and against hu­man­ity. 

Does it not shock the con­science of the world that the “In­dian army per­son­nel used their most so­phis­ti­cated firearms to kill sim­ple, hum­ble and bread-earn­ing vil­lagers?

NPHMR which has through­out been stat­ing that the in­ten­tions of the gov­ern­ment are sus­pi­cious has said, “This evil act of the In­dian gov­ern­ment through its mil­i­tary forces once again re­veals its true in­tent of own­ing our land af­ter ex­ter­mi­nat­ing our Naga peo­ple. Our peo­ple at all times seek to live in peace with all other peo­ple.”

Does it not shock the con­science of the world that the “In­dian army per­son­nel used their most so­phis­ti­cated firearms to kill sim­ple, hum­ble and bread-earn­ing vil­lagers?

“Our his­tory tells us that we have never waged war on any peo­ple even in the days of old. We are be­ing de­nied to live lives of dig­nity, to ex­er­cise our rights and are now be­ing dri­ven to live in fear. The Gov­ern­ment of In­dia, time and again, wages war against our Naga peo­ple. The ac­tions of the In­dian State upon our peo­ple are no less than the erst­while apartheid. No power on earth had ever suc­ceeded in sub­du­ing our Naga spirit.”

All Naga so­cial, hu­man rights and po­lit­i­cal bod­ies have con­demned the killings and have sus­pended their De­cem­ber fes­tiv­i­ties in ho­n­our of those killed. It is re­ported that the Na­ga­land Chief Min­is­ter Neiphiu Rio has sought the re­peal of the dra­con­ian Armed Forces Spe­cial Pow­ers Act (AF­SPA), which gives full im­punity to the In­dian se­cu­rity forces to in­jure and kill with­out any fear of be­ing hauled be­fore courts.