SETBACK TO PEACE

THE KILLING OF 14 NAGA CIVILIANS AFTER AN AMBUSH GONE WRONG PUTS THE CENTRE AND THE ARMED FORCES ON THE DEFENSIVE IN RESTIVE NAGALAND. IT ALSO PUTS AT RISK THE BRITTLE PEACE PROCESS AND RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HARSH AFSPA LAW

- Kaushik Deka

The killing of 14 innocent civilians by the armed forces, starting offwith a case of “mistaken identity” in Nagaland’s Mon district on December 4, has shattered the relative peace that has prevailed in the state in the past six years. On August 3, 2015, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Centre had signed a ‘framework agreement’ with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) or the NSCN (I-M), paving the way for a lasting peace accord. The NSCN (I-M) is the most dreaded militant outfit in the state and, like several other groups, has been demanding a sovereign country for the Naga people. Since 2017, eight more Naga outfits under the banner of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPG), had joined the peace process.

As a result, terror-related incidents saw a big drop in the state with the number of fatalities dropping from 47 in 2015 to just four till December 3 this year. So, on December 4, when soldiers of the 21 Para Special Forces “mistakenly” killed six young mine workers (two others are battling for their lives in hospital) assuming them to be terrorists, the hill state erupted in protest. Socio-political groups called for immediate action against the armed forces while sporadic violence erupted at various spots in the state. One of the militant groups, NSCN/ GPRN, a splinter group of the NSCN (Khaplang) faction, announced that “the blood spilled of the innocent will be avenged sooner or later”. Simultaneously, the campaign to repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or AFSPA, 1958, which provides impunity to armed forces in counter-insurgency operations in ‘disturbed areas’, has gathered steam with the chief ministers of Nagaland and Meghalaya also demanding it.