Naga People’s Front MP from Manipur Lorho S. Pfoze demanded that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in force in many northeastern States be repealed, while also raising questions over the sequence of events shared by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his statement in Parliament on the events of December 4 in Nagaland that left 14 civilians dead .
While Dr. Pfoze raised in the Lok Sabha the issue of what happened in Nagaland on December 4 evening, he could not complete his submission to the Chair under matters of Urgent Public Importance. While referring to the “cruel and brutal murder of 14 civilians” in Nagaland, and the suffering of the States of the northeast under the AFSPA, his time was up. Speaking to The Hindu outside of Parliament however, Dr. Pfoze said that he wanted to put on record that some facts put forward by Mr. Shah on the sequence of events leading to the killings did not bear close scrutiny.
“I basically wanted to say that while the Home Minister in Parliament said that it was a case of mistaken identity and that the armed forces had asked the truck carrying the civilians to stop and only fired when the truck didn’t stop is wrong. We now have videos of eyewitness accounts of a survivor who says that the truck was not asked to stop and firing happened,” he said.
“This event and many others in the northeastern States have brought down what is a glorious legacy of Indian democracy all because of the AFSPA being in force in these States. The time has now come that this law be repealed,” he said.
