Nagaland firing incident: Congress seeks probe into death of 14 people

The party questioned a statement Union home minister Amit Shah had made in Parliament

Amit Shah.: File photo

TT Special Correspondent   |   New Delhi   |   27.12.21: The Congress on Sunday demanded a probe by a sitting high court judge into the death of 14 people in security forces’ firing in Nagaland’s Mon district early this month, and questioned a statement Union home minister Amit Shah had made in Parliament.

The Congress delegation sent to Nagaland by Sonia Gandhi handed in its report on Sunday, narrating the accounts of survivors and family members of the victims, who said the forces had gunned down innocent people without provocation.

“The SIT (special investigation team) announced by the government of Nagaland is an eyewash. The Congress demands a commission of inquiry headed by a sitting judge of Gauhati High Court,” the report says.

One of the members of the delegation, Ajoy Kumar, questioned a statement made by Shah in Parliament.

He said: “Two days after the incident, Amit Shah said in Parliament: ‘Based on inputs received by the Indian Army about movement of the insurgents near Tiru village in Tizit area of Mon district, a team of 21 para-commandos of (the) Indian Army laid an ambush in the evening of 04.12.2021. During the ambush, a vehicle approached the location and it was signalled to stop. However, the vehicle tried to flee, following which the vehicle, suspected of carrying insurgents, was fired upon resulting in killing of 6 out of 8 persons travelling in the vehicle. However, it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. The two persons who sustained injuries were evacuated to the medical facilities by the army personnel’.”

Kumar added: “A minister in the Nagaland government and the BJP chief in Nagaland contradicted the statement made by the home minister in Parliament. As per newspaper reports the minister from Nagaland stated that the innocent victims were labourers returning from a hard day’s work and were not armed with any firearms whatsoever. ‘It is therefore tantamount to war crimes during peace time and amounts to summary execution as well as genocide’, the minister said.”

Quoting two survivors who are being treated in Dibrugarh, the Congress report says: “The villagers belonged to Oting village. They work at mines as is the practice in this region at this time of the year. On Saturday they were returning home and were travelling in a Tata pickup truck. As they came upon a culvert which slopes up and drove up on it, they saw the army vehicle with a machine gun mounted. The armed forces started firing immediately on them. They also heard three loud sounds that they thought may be grenades. However, they were not certain if in fact grenades were used.”

The report adds: “The villagers called the mine to inquire about their compatriots who had not reached home yet, and on being informed that their compatriots had left the mine sometime back, went down the road to investigate. While on their route, the villagers came across army vehicles parked on the side of the road.

“When they asked the army jawans in the vehicle, the jawans denied knowledge of the missing villagers. While this was ongoing, one of the villagers lifted the tarpaulin at the back of an army pickup truck, revealing the bodies of the six dead villagers. The villagers also asked the army personnel about the two missing villagers since there were eight villagers in the Tata pickup.

“Simultaneously, another villager on the scene noticed a piece of paper on the licence plate, and saw another piece of paper which on removal revealed the true licence plate. This agitated the villagers and the villagers thereafter set one of the other parked army vehicles on fire which resulted in the army personnel firing at the villagers and killing seven more people from the village.”