Nagaland killings: Congress demands probe by HC judge, Rs 1 crore

The Congress alleged that instead of rushing to the site to take stock of the intelligence failure, Amit Shah was at a political rally in Rajasthan

The Congress on Sunday demanded an independent probe by a sitting high court judge into the Nagaland killings and Rs 1 crore compensation to the kin of each of the deceased.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Congress leaders Gaurav Gogoi and Ajoy Kumar said in a joint statement, "The SIT that has been announced by the government of Nagaland is an eyewash and the Congress party believes that no meaningful resolution is possible as evidenced by the government's false statements in the aftermath of the incident in Mon. The Congress Party demands that a commission of inquiry headed by a sitting judge of the Gauhati High Court immediately should be set up as such an independent committee will enable the country to understand the true events that took place on December 4-5 in which 14 (fourteen) people lost their lives."

Both the leaders were part of Congress delegation constituted by Sonia Gandhi, which submitted its report on Friday.

It said that on December 4, Saturday around 4-4.30 pm, a unit of the 21 Para Special Forces organised an ambush on suspected NSCN (K) Yung Aung faction cadre near Tiru village, Mon district, and instead of gunning down the suspected militants, killed eight civilian miners belonging to Oting village who were returning home in a pickup truck.

Also Read — Panel formed to decide withdrawal of AFSPA from Nagaland

Of the 8 miners, 6 were immediately killed as a result of the ambush and 2 were severely injured. The villagers, on searching for the missing miners and discovering their bodies, retaliated in anger on the local armed forces and in the ensuing firefight, 7 more civilians and one jawan were killed.

On December 5, agitated crowds burned down the Konyak Students Union Office and in the police firing that ensued, one more civilian was killed. In total, as a result of the incidents, 14 civilians and 1 jawan were killed.

The Congress alleged that instead of rushing to the site of the incident to take stock of the shocking intelligence failure that led to the deaths of 14 civilians and 1 jawan, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was at a political rally in Rajasthan.

A minister in the UDA government of the state and the BJP chief in Nagaland contradicted the statement made by the Home Minister in Parliament. As per newspaper reports, the minister from Nagaland stated that "the innocent victims were labourers returning from a hard day's work and were not armed with any firearms whatsoever. It is, therefore, tantamount to war crimes during peacetime and amounts to summary execution as well as genocide."

The Congress demanded compensation to the family of the victims of the violence. It said all the victims should be compensated by the Central government. The family of the deceased should be given compensation of Rs 1 crore and a job with the government. The injured may be awarded compensation of at least Rs 10 lakh, it said.

Watch the latest DH Videos here: