The North East Forum for Indigenous People (NEFIP) has demanded the Centre to immediately withdraw the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) from the Northeastern region and remove all Army cantonments from civilian areas.
NEFIP represents civil organisations of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.
Expressing shock over the ambush on innocent civilians by the Indian Army at Oting village in Mon district, Nagaland, NEFIP stated that the massacre of laborers on the pretext of mistaken identity is a heinous crime against humanity. It is an attempt to annihilate the indigenous people from its soil and suppression of their right to life in dignity, it added in a release.
In the release, NEFIP also condemned the barbarous attack and killing of indigenous people by the Indian military under the garb of a ‘controversial and inhumane colonial draconian law’ called AFSPA.
The forum stated that the Indian Army cannot justify their act in any ways as it is an act of state terrorism to the people of the entire region. The time has come for the indigenous people to rise to the occasion and fight for their rights to existence, the release stated.
NEFIP expressed its condolences and solidarity towards the brethren of Nagaland, particularly the eastern Naga people and the family members of the deceased, it added
NEFIP further appealed to all federating state members and the indigenous people of Northeast to stand together and extend solidarity to the people of Nagaland.
