Make SIT report on Oting killings public soon: FNR

ITANAGAR, 5 May: The Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) has demanded that the Nagaland government immediately act upon the SIT report it has already received regarding the killing of civilians in Mon district of Nagaland.

“Widespread public denunciation ensued after 14 innocent civilians were killed and many civilians injured by India’s military forces at Oting and Mon on 4 and 5 December, 2021,” the FNR stated in a release on Thursday, and added that the killings “blatantly violated the sanctity of life, breached public trust, and shattered the peaceful atmosphere.”

The FNR expressed regret that, even after five months since the SIT investigation was initiated, “the government has made no official statement about the status of the SIT investigation or its report.”

The forum said that the state government’s handling of the investigation was disingenuous “and lacks political sincerity and integrity.

“This inaction has further traumatised the affected family members, community and deepens the people’s distrust,” it said.

“The SIT report must be made public as a gesture of transparency and accountability to the affected families and community,” the FNR demanded, adding that “it needs

to reveal the perpetrators’ role in the system of violence sustained with impunity through Acts such as the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act” or AFSPA.

The FNR further said that it supports the Konyak civil society’s decision to pursue the issue. “Justice will be served after all military personnel involved in the killing of 14 innocent civilians are identified, tried in a court of law, and punished according to the rule of law,” the FNR said.

It said that the action taken must be put out in public domain, and that the AFSPA must be decisively repealed.