Nagaland civilian killings: After setback, families ask who will help them now

The Union Ministry of Defence denied sanction to prosecute the 30 security men allegedly involved in the December 2021 firing incident; villagers say neither the state government nor civil society organisations are helping them get justice.

Nagaland killings, Nagaland civilian deaths, Oting village killings, Ministry of defence on nagaland killings, Oting killings, Indian Army Oting killings, Indian Army Nagaland civilians deaths, Nagaland civilians deaths, Nagaland news, indian express

The graves of the 13 persons who were killed in the Army firing and the subsequent violence, in Oting. Tora Agarwala

8 min readGuwahatiApr 16, 2023 06:05 PM IST First published on: Apr 16, 2023 at 04:04 AM IST

A sense of helplessness and despair has gripped Chemwang Konyak since Friday.

On December 4, 2021, his son, Shomwang, was among six miners who were killed when the Indian Army’s 21 Para Special Force opened fire at a pick-up truck in Nagaland’s Oting village, mistaking its occupants for insurgents of the banned National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang-Yung Aung) group.

While the six died on the spot, two survived. Seven more civilians and a security personnel died in retaliatory violence that followed.

The incident, which caused public outrage in Nagaland, led the National Human Rights Commission to take suo motu cognizance of the killings, and the state government to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to “facilitate free and fair investigation” in the case. Last June, based on the SIT’s report, the state police filed a chargesheet accusing the 30 Army men, including a commander of Major rank, of “attempt to murder”.

However, less than a year later, the Union Ministry of Defence denied sanction to prosecute the 30 security men, a statement from the Nagaland police said on Thursday. Without the prosecution sanction from the Centre, a precondition to initiate action against security personnel in areas under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), the legal process against the Army men cannot proceed further. The Army’s separate Court of Inquiry is complete, but it is yet to decide on the action forward.

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On Saturday, Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen RP Kalita told reporters in Guwahati that it was an “unfortunate incident”. “Unfortunately, because of the stay order passed by the Supreme Court, the proceedings have been stayed completely…that’s where the situation as far as the army inquiry is concerned,” he said.

He also reportedly said that the Army had “analysed” the mistakes in the Oting operation, and taken a “comprehensive review of the conduct of operation in those areas”. He said that the Army was reviewing amended Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) put in place for counter-insurgency operations in the Northeast following the Oting incident.

For 58-year-old Chemwang, who has long been battling a form of skin cancer, the news has been shattering. “They had promised us justice… promised us that those who killed my son would be punished,” he says over the phone from Oting, in Nagaland’s Mon district, home to the Konyak tribe. The monetary compensation and government job the state had announced did reach Shomwang’s family, but his father says “nothing can replace my son. We still want those involved to be punished.”

However, Chemwang says that “neither the state government nor civil society organisations” are helping them get justice. “We are helpless.”

Adds Chongmei Konyak, Oting resident and former Army Supply Corps soldier who was injured in the retaliatory violence: “There was a lot of noise in the beginning, our leaders were rallying behind us, but now everything is quiet.”

In the weeks following the incident, Nagaland was swept by public protests, especially in the state’s eastern districts, where Oting falls. The influential Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation, which represents the Eastern Naga tribes, as well as the Konyak Union, the Konyak tribe’s representative body, had said they won’t back down till justice was delivered and AFSPA was removed.

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However, many say that the seething anger has dissipated to a large extent. Locals allege that the civil society organisations, which mediated with the government on behalf of the villagers, were not pursuing the matter as actively as they had before. The Indian Express reached out to both the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation and the Konyak Union. The organisations’ office bearers refused to comment, and said that they were “discussing the matter”.

In this vacuum, the villages of Oting feel especially “betrayed”. “It is sad because our leaders are not discussing it anymore. Most of the affected people are poor and uneducated. The survivors are still suffering. They cannot follow up the case on their own, they will need guidance. But whom do they turn to?” asks Keapwang Konyak, the president of the Oting Students’ Union, and friend of some killed in the incident.

A case in point is Kumwang Konyak, the brother of Yeihwang, one of the two survivors of the ambush. The incident maimed Yeihwang, and in the year since, he has lived as a “vegetable”, his family says. “My brother can barely walk, we are barely able to make ends meet… but after the initial compensation from the government, we have got nothing,” says Kumwang, a farmer. He adds that he had no idea about the prosecution sanction being denied. “We are just trying to survive.”

In Mon town, Tingshen Konyak, a 32-year-old who was injured in the clashes following the ambush, says he was “not surprised” and had lost hope for justice long back. “But I thought the government would at least help us with other livelihood options,” he says. Tingshen’s right thumb had to be amputated because of a gunshot injury.

The Indian Express reached out to several senior leaders of the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP)-BJP coalition government that recently came to power for a second term in Nagaland, but none officially commented. Asked if the state government had issued any directions to follow up with the Centre regarding the denial of prosecution sanction, Nagaland Director General of Police Rupin Sharma said that he had received none.

The Nagaland Congress hit out at the government for not pursuing the matter. “There is no political will… the BJP may talk of peace but they have not achieved anything,” said K Therie, former Nagaland Congress President. “Justice looks far-fetched… the living have failed the dead once again,” added Gk Zhimomi, also of the Congress.

In response, Imkong Imchen, BJP MLA from Nagaland, said that the state government was “helpless” because areas under the AFSPA fall under the “mandate of the Union government”. NDPP minister KG Kenye, who holds the portfolio for Parliamentary Affairs, said that one cannot “blame the Centre or the state authority”, since the Supreme Court had taken up the matter. In July 2022, the apex court had stayed proceedings on the FIR and the report of the SIT, invoking the immunity the AFSPA offers to the security forces. This was in response to the petition filed by the wife of the Army officer who had led the operation. The petitioner had asked for a stay on the chargesheet, citing non-sanction of prosecution by the Department of Military Affairs.

Kenye said, while clarifying that he was speaking in his personal capacity, that he was “sure that the government would appeal to the Centre soon”. But, Nyawang Wangsha, who is the Mon district president of the BJP, said there was no point going to the “higher-ups” (state BJP leaders). “Nothing has been done, no compensation given to even help the injured survivors,” he points out.

However, despite that, some say the BJP has managed to remain on a good wicket. Following the incident, the Union Home ministry rolled back AFSPA in several areas in the northeast in April 2021. It did another, though minor, rollback in March this year.

But the party’s bigger political statement was appointing S Phangnon Konyak as its Rajya Sabha MP from Nagaland last March — Phangnon Konyak, the first woman to represent Nagaland in the Rajya Sabha, hails from Oting. A BJP leader from Nagaland admitted that the “appeasement had helped”.

Chongmei Konyak, the former Army Supply Corps soldier, says that following the appointment, things became “political”, and many went “completely silent” on the matter.

He adds that until AFSPA is removed in its entirety, “nothing will change”. “The government announced that they are removing it from some areas… they may have but what is the point? We are still suffering because of it.”