The killing of a civilian at Pumao under Longding district by the Indian army is deeply troubling.
As per reports, the incident happened when commotion broke out, after a peace meeting held between army and villagers to sort out an issue, ended without any results.
The army personnel reportedly had severely beaten up one Jimphu Wangnow for no reason earlier on Friday night.
The act of the army to fire indiscriminately at unarmed civilians, resulting in the death of one and injury to several others is highly condemnable. The people of Arunachal Pradesh are highly patriotic and share excellent bonding with the armed forces.
Even in the insurgency affected districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding, the people have mostly been supportive of the army. In fact, they often get caught between the army and Naga insurgent groups. Both have histories of killing and torturing innocent citizens. However, people expect more discipline from the army.
The Indian Army has always prided itself for being secular and a disciplined force. But the incident like the one witnessed in Pumao will hurt its image. It has potential to damage the relationship between the people of state and the army.
The incident has hurt all Arunachalees. The entire state is looking to the army to own up responsibility and punish those responsible for the killing.
If the army fails to punish the wrongdoers, it is going to hurt the long-term relation between civilians and armed forces in the state.