Imphal: The Naga Political Leaders’ Forum, Manipur (NPLFM) said that a holistic approach by all the 25 MPs and Chief Ministers of the North Eastern states when it comes to the issue of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is the need of the hour. Therefore, the Forum suggested to constitute a review committee of all the MPs and Chief Ministers of the NE states in line with the review committee of Nagaland to examine and find a solution to repeal AFSPA from the whole Northeast states.
The Naga Political Leaders’ Forum said that, though it appreciated and welcomed the move of the Government of India to constitute a committee comprising Dr. Vivek Joshi, RG & CCI as Chairman along with 5 other members from the Nagaland Government, Nagaland Police, Assam Rifles and MHA to review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act for the state of Nagaland, it felt that reviewing the act for the state of Nagaland alone is not enough but should be for the whole Northeastern states.
The Forum then urged the Government of India and the Government of Manipur to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the whole North Eastern States, specially Manipur and Nagaland. The Forum said that most of the “underground insurgent groups operating in the state” are engaged in peaceful dialogue with the government. Therefore, the NPLFM said that the continued and prolonged imposition of AFSPA in the state is meaningless and the civilians face several hardships due to “such a draconian law”.
The Forum, while condemning the “barbaric massacre of 14 Konyak civilians of Oting village, Mon district, Nagaland on December 4 and 5, 2021 by a combined team of 21s Para commandos of Indian Army and Assam Rifles in the strongest terms, shared the grieve and sorrow of the bereaved families. The Forum said that it is of the opinion that “such an inhuman massacre” of civilians was possible due to the imposition of the draconian act i.e. the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 (AFSPA) in the Northeastern states.
The Forum then requested the Government of India and the Government of Manipur to solve the 25 years long Indo-Naga peace talk and also urged them to initiate steps to bring all the remaining insurgent groups to the negotiation table by signing peace accords with them so that peace can be restored and usher in an era of development in the whole NE states.
NNN
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