Justice not about money… punish officers responsible: father of killed Naga miner / Meghalaya to urge Centre to repeal AFSPA / Nagaland killings: Direct marise…they shot right at us, no signal to stop, we did not flee, says ambush survivor
NB: My deepest condolences to the families of the deceased miners. That one of them had just been married and that two of them were twins makes it all the more tragic. God bless the departed souls. DS
The Monday after Langwang and Thapwang attended a wedding, the 25-year-old identical twins left Oting with their six friends to work in a coal mine about 6 km away. Owned by a local resident, the mine has been functional for 15 years now and is the main source of income for many in this small village of Nagaland’s Mon district. As they have been doing for the past three years, the friends worked through the week and, on Saturday, began their short journey back in a pick-up truck to make it in time for Sunday church service.
They never made it
back home.
‘I have no feeling…
justice not about money we get, punish Army officers responsible’
Six of them, including the twins, were killed in an ambush by the Army, with officials saying they were mistaken for insurgents. The two others in the vehicle were battling for life Monday in a hospital in Assam’s Dibrugarh. In the clash that ensued between forces and villagers after the ambush, seven more villagers died, including 38-year-old Hokup, whose wedding the entire village, including the twins, had attended. “Today, he (Hokup) was buried in the same compound as he was married,” said T Nahwang, who lives in the village. “Imagine…who would have thought that after such a happy occasion, this would follow.”
On Monday evening, the bodies of the six miners, as well as the seven civilians who had died in the clashes, were brought to the village compound, Hahsahapang, just metres away from the cemetery where they were laid to rest later. In a solemn ceremony, the villagers paid their last respects and sang hymns. At a distance, a fluttering banner read: “Welcome Back Home, Brothers. The Warriors.” Two days after clashes with the forces, Oting is quiet. At the corner of the field in a small office room, women make black paper flags, signs of protest that villagers have fastened to their vehicles and bikes. However, a sense of palpable anger runs across the village, directed mostly at the Army.
‘Admit we got aggressive but they killed our brothers, who had done no wrong’
Intention
to murder, injure civilians: Nagaland Police FIR against Army unit
“We are not blaming the government, the police or the entire armed forces. For us, justice is not about the money we are offered. But we want the commander responsible, the major who led the operation, to be identified and punished,” said 56-year-old Chemwang Konyak whose son, Shomwang Konyak (33), a church youth leader, died in the ambush. Shomwang was driving the pick-up truck that brought them back. Chemwang’s niece, Minpang Wangshu, said that “people lived and people died, but no one deserved a death like this”. “Isn’t the job of the Army to provide security, to protect us? Instead they shot my brother dead,” she said. “Almost every home in our colony has lost someone,” Chemwang said.
Each knew the other, blood relatives, friends, neighbours. “Langwang and Thapwang were born together, minutes apart, and they died together, minutes apart,” said L Nenwang, their elder brother. Shomwang was their cousin, and another victim Yinjong (23) their neighbour. Just down the hill lived Thakwang (27) and Khawang (28), who left behind a two-month-old baby. Thakwang’s father, Wanghen (54), says he feels “numb”. “There is no sadness, there is no feeling,” he said.
But there is a glimmer of hope. Saiwang, his younger son and Thakwang’s brother, is still alive in the hospital in Dibrugarh. “I am waiting for him,” Wanghen said. At the twins’ home, their parents remember them as the “best sons in the world” — hardworking and sole breadwinners in their family. Awa (66), their mother, says work at the mine was “extra pocket money” for winters. “Daily wages would otherwise be Rs 200, but at the mine, a day’s work would bring in between Rs 500 and 700,” she said.
The mines are located in the plains of Tiru valley in an area that is otherwise mostly hilly. “The area is quite large…in the plains of Tiru, which falls under Oting, there are multiple mines owned by villagers,” said N Konyak, a businessman who owns a mine in the village. There are paddy fields and other farmland, too. “All belong to us but the coal is sold to middlemen who come from Assam and other places in the country,” he said.
The mine owner hires villagers for daily wages. There are two routes to the mine — a longer zig-zag route, and a short cut the local residents had built recently. On Saturday, one group took the longer route, the other the short cut. The ambush happened on the short cut. “(They took the shorter route) so that they could reach home quickly…but they never reached home,” said Konyak.
Meghalaya govt to urge Centre to repeal draconian Act of 1958
SHILLONG, Dec 6: The
Meghalaya government has decided to move the Centre seeking withdrawal of the
Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958 from the North East region. In
a statement issued here on Monday, Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said the
state government will continue its stand against AFSPA and added that the
draconian law is not the way to address issues concerning the region.
According to him, it is important to look and understand the issues faced by the region like development, problems related to the youth and insurgency, issue of identity, peace, law-and-order and national security. Admitting that law-and-order was a problem in the Northeast, Sangma said, “AFSPA is not the way to move forward since this draconian law leads to more unrest. We are seeing a situation where lots of precious lives have been lost. People have to go through a lot of pain and suffering.” “The opposition against AFSPA has been there for a long time. This demand to repeal this legislation has not come in the past few days,” the CM added.
Civil society groups, rights activists and political leaders of the Northeast have been demanding the withdrawal of the “draconian” law for years, alleging excesses by security forces with impunity under the cover of the Act. Earlier taking to Twitter, Sangma wrote: “AFSPA should be repealed.” Conrad is the national president of the National People’s Party, which supports the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.
Health Minister James Sangma also condemned the killings in Nagaland. “It is
painful to witness such levels of brutality by forces mandated to protect the
citizens. There is no justification in the use of force against innocent people
of the land and there should be an in-depth investigation into the matter to
ensure the guilty are punished and justice is delivered to the victims. Peace
cannot be expected in a democracy if violence by state forces is allowed to go
unchecked,” he said.
CLP leader Ampareen Lyngdoh backed the CM’s demand for the repeal of the 1958
Act. “We must go all out to demand the immediate repeal of this draconian
oppression of our people,” she added. The state Congress urged the CM to
convene a meeting for consultation over the issue. Congress MLA from Mawlai, PT
Sawkmie also demanded that AFSPA should be repealed from the entire
Northeastern region. Condemning the brutal killings in Nagaland, he said that
all 60 MLAs of Meghalaya should stand united and ask the Government of India to
repeal the Act.
All India Trinamool Congress MLA, Miani D. Shira lamented the death of the Nagaland villagers due to a case of ‘mistaken identity’. “As long as the AFSPA is operational, the inquiry can never bring justice. Appeal for repeal of AFSPA. Condemning isn’t enough,” she added.
Civil society and pressure groups in Meghalaya have also called for the immediate and unconditional repeal of the AFSPA. The Hynniewtrep Youth Council said AFSPA should be withdrawn in order to build a peaceful Northeast. “We call upon the Government of India to rein in their armed forces if they really wish peace to prevail in the region as incidents like these will only bring instability, which is not a good sign for the region as a whole,” its general secretary Roy Kupar Synrem said. “The so called Operation of the Armed Forces is nothing but a mere excuses and cover up of its complete failure to distinguish between innocent unarmed civilians and the so called militants and hence civilian lives are lost as a result of the shooting spree,” Synrem said.
“We call upon each and everyone especially our elected representatives in the
Northeast to stand together and impress upon the Centre to repeal the operation
of AFSPA in the Northeastern Region in order to avoid any further loss of
innocent civilians lives like the “Oting Massacre” or the “Malom Massacre” in
the future,” he said. The Khasi Students’ Union said the government should
formulate laws to safeguard the rights of the indigenous people of the
Northeast.
The union, under the aegis of the North East Students’ Organisation, will
organise a sit-in followed by a candlelight vigil at U Kiang Nangbah monument
near Shillong Civil Hospital on December 9 to condemn the Nagaland massacre. NESO
has decide to organise programmes in all the state capitals of all the
Northeastern states on December 9, as a mark of protest against the heinous act
committed by the security forces at Oting village in Nagaland. “This programme
is to show solidarity with the people of Oting village in particular and the
people of Nagaland in general who are going through this heart-stricken grief,”
NESO chairman Samuel B Jyrwa said in a statement.
NESO also reiterated its demand that the Government of India should show its
willingness and sincerity for peace to prevail in North East by repealing
AFSPA. “…otherwise it will only be seen as an act of aggression and suppression
of the voice of the people by using the military power at their disposal
without a concern for the well being of the people of the region,” it stated.
https://theshillongtimes.com/2021/12/07/scrap-afspa-chorus-grows-louder-in-ne/
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