Nagaland cabinet cancels Hornbill Festival, demands cancellation of AFSPA
The situation in Nagaland, where protests and riots erupted after security forces shot dead 14 civilians, was tense but calm as the state cabinet met on Tuesday and demanded the abolition of the armed forces (special powers). In the center. Law or AFSPA.
State ministers say an emergency cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Tuesday also postponed the ongoing Hornbill Festival in protest of the killings.
The 10-day Hornbill Festival, the state’s largest tourist festival, was scheduled to end on December 10, at the Naga Heritage Village in Kisama, near the state capital.
At the meeting, the cabinet was briefed on the steps taken after the killing, including the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by an IGP rank officer and state grants for the relatives of the deceased. Union ministers Neiba Kronu and Temjen Imna Alang later told reporters.
He said the cabinet had directed the SIT to complete the probe within a month.
A total of 14 civilians were killed in the incident, while two critically injured were being treated in neighboring Assam and six in Dimapur, Krunu said.
The shootings took place on 4 December in Oting-Tiru area and on 5 December in Som Town.
“In the wake of the declared mourning for those killed in the Mon District shooting, all activities of the Hornbill Festival 2021 must be stopped,” Kronu said.
Officials said the situation in the state, where people took to the streets in protest of the shooting, was “restless but calm.”
Attending the funeral of 14 civilians in the city on Monday, Rio joined the growing demand for the abolition of AFSPA, which gives security forces special powers in “troubled areas”.
A report submitted to the state government on Sunday claimed that the army had not made any attempt to identify the civilians before firing on them returning from work in Mon district of Nagaland last Saturday.
Critics say the controversial law allows the armed forces to operate with impunity, leading to human rights abuses.
A joint report by state DGP John Lankumar and Commissioner Rovilatuo Moore quoted eyewitnesses as saying that Army special forces “hid” the bodies of six people and tried to reach them in a pickup van. Basement.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by News East India staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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