After killing of 14 civilians in Nagaland’s Mon district, demands for repealing AFSPA raised across NE

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Monday said the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) should be removed.

Terming the AFSPA as draconian law, the Nagaland Chief Minister said the law has blackened the image of India.

“We are Indian and India is the biggest democratic country in the world. This is a draconian law, so it should be removed from our country. There are many laws which can be handled. But this law has blackened the image of our country. This is my opinion,” Neiphiu Rio said.

Neiphiu Rio on Monday visited Mon district and met the family members of 14 deceased persons who were killed in firing incident in an area between Tiru and Oting village and Mon town area on Saturday and Sunday.

The Nagaland Chief Minister was accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton, cabinet colleagues and they took part in the ass funeral programme held at Mon helipad ground.

Thousands of people, village council members of Oting, Jakphang, Chi villages, leaders of different organizations, civil society groups, students’ organizations, NGOs, political groups were also present in the mass funeral of 14 deceased persons.

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio tweeted, “Nagaland and the Naga people have always opposed #AFSPA. It should be repealed.”

Not only the Nagaland Chief Minister, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has also raised his voice against the AFSPA and said that the AFSPA should be repealed.

Conrad Sangma tweeted: “AFSPA should be repealed.”

Many organizations, civil society groups, tribal groups, students’ bodies, political parties of the north eastern region have raised their voices and are demanding immediate repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the north eastern region.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)