ENSF, NMA condemn Kiphire incident

Eastern Naga Students’ Federation (ENSF) has described the April 28 Kiphire incident as a conflict between “Hill people” and the “Friends of the Hill People” and condemned what it said were “atrocities” and human rights violation  by 7 Assam Rifles “Captain Vinod and his jawans” while expressing regrets over damage to administrative properties caused by “angry mob”.

ENSF president Likhumse Sangtam and general secretary Honang M.Jessuhu in a joint statement, accused Captain Vinod of having created law and order situation on several occasions by “aggressively exercising” the Armed Forces Special Powers Act(AFSPA).

They said the act of using AFSPA  in a hard-earned peaceful situation in the region, was unwelcome, especially when Nagas want to live in peace.

ENSF asked AR what it meant by ‘friends of the hill people’ when the officers and jawans do not honour it by torturing innocent public to spread fear among people in the international border area.

They said the act of Captain Vinod and the AR jawans had hurt not only the sentiments of “the hill people” but also defamed the AR as a whole.

It demanded that officers at the highest levels   sensitise the rank and file of the force posted across the region to avert such unwanted situation so as to justify the slogan ‘friends of the hill people”.

Expressing gratitude to parliamentary secretary power Kipili Sangtam for his intervention to restore normalcy and peace in Kiphire town, ENSF  said the district administration should not be blamed for failure nor undue harassment meted out to officers and staff of the medical department by the unruly mob.

NMA: Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA) has expressed “deep displeasure” and vehemently condemned the April 28 Kiphire violence.

In a press release, NMA said the incident   caused due  “high handedness” of 7 Assam Rifles (AR) in Kiphire town led by Captain Vinod,further escalated into public unrest and caused damage to public property.

NMA while condemning the harassment of  children  by AR personnel, said such inhuman acts meted out to innocent people could not be tolerated by the Nagas.

Stating that the AR action was “totally against peace”, NMA appealed to AR authority to stop “targeting and harassing” the public in the name of maintaining law and order.

NMA further appealed AR to punish the officer and jawans involved in the incident and asked the state government to look into the matter.