Prosecute the culprits involved in Oting killings, repeal AFSPA: Global Naga Forum appeals

The Global Naga Forum (GNF) has appealed to the government of India to prosecute the culprits involved in Oting and Mon killings under civil law so that justice is given to families of the victims. The GNF also demanded that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) be immediately repealed, terming it as “the 64-year old Indian military law designed to kill Nagas with impunity.”

“One year ago on December 4, 2021, Indian army commandos killed 14 innocent civilians and wounded several in Mon district. The personal tragedies of the families continue without recourse because the Union government has done nothing to prosecute the guilty, despite the state government-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) naming 30 army personnel involved in the killings,” the GNF Media Cell said in an official statement.

The GNF said that it continues to mourn the dead along with their families and stands for justice in solidarity with them and with the Naga people.

Saying that it is outraged by the repeated violations by Indian armed forces of Naga people’s basic rights to life itself, and to self-determination and peace in their own homeland, GNF said the violations go back to the mid-1950s military invasion by India to put down the Naga people’s movement for self-governance and to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). And the violations have not stopped since, it added.

“The Oting and Mon killings were not aberrations from, but a predictable consequence of, Indian policy and military law under AFSPA,” the GNF added.

Citing a number of instances that had happened since Oting and Mon killings, the GNF said that the reason all these military crimes against Nagas keep happening repeatedly and predictably is AFSPA, which has been in force for 64 years running, even during ceasefire periods, “while the Union government is supposedly in the final stages of negotiations with the Nagas for a peaceful resolution of the 75-year-old Indo-Naga political problem,” the GNF further said.

The GNF said it is grateful to foreign governments and international communities for raising questions about the legitimacy of AFSPA in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR), during the 4th Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), held in Geneva in November 2022.

The statement also stated that representatives of fourteen foreign governments objected to AFSPA for violating people’s rights in one way or another, with a few recommending its repeal.

GNF said that the countries include the USA, Germany, Norway, Belgium, Estonia, Canada, Croatia, Czech R, Costa Rica, Brazil, Lithuania, Italy, Pakistan, and Greece.

“We hope the Indian government will act responsibly by repealing AFSPA, so India can comply with obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” the GNF said.