The Secretary General of the Naga People's Movement for Human Rights, Neingulo Krome said the continuation of the Disturbed Areas Act (DAA) in Nagaland was no more necessary in view of the improved situation in the State.
"Since the signing of the cease-fire agreements between the Government of India and the NSCN(IM) in 1997 and also with the NSCN(K) in 2001, situation has become quite normal everywhere in the State unlike in the past", the Secretary General told this Correspondent here.
"Therefore, continuation of such Act in many ways is just 'contradictory' to what the Government has been professing". Asked why State Chief Minister SC Jamir was still not prepared to revoke the Act from the State, the NPMHR leader said he (Jamir) would apply any yardstick that
was available to exploit political mileage and this Act was found suited to him.
Asked whether it was time for the State Government to bring back those Naga under trial prisoners languishing in other jails outside the State following the progress of peace process between the Government of India and the Naga underground groups, Krome said if the Government was sincere, all these issues should be addressed. "But on the one hand, they are talking peace but in the background, they are just continuing to subjugate people", he stated.
Krome expressed unhappiness over the excesses committed by the Assam Rifles jawans to the villagers of Leplen Kuki village under Manipur's Ukhrul district in the aftermath of the killing of its(Assam Rifles) 11 jawans by Kuki Revolutionary Army(KRA) cadres on May 27 last.
Even the Manipur Chief Minister admitted the excesses meted out to the villagers of the Leplen Kuki village by the security forces following the incident. The Chief Minister reportedly instructed the authorities of the concerned security forces not to use excesses in future.
"In any case, security forces exceeds their limits and whether there is ceasefire coverage or not is a technical and political", Krome explained. "I think it is the responsibility of any forces that
seems to be democratic and disciplined forces to restrain their activity within the ambit of human
feeling, but most of the time we find that security forces act without any human feeling towards its
fellow citizens" the NPMHR leader pointed out. "I think this has to stop somewhere".
Regretting on the recent raids conducted to the houses of the NSCN (IM) cadres in and around Dimapur by security forces, Krome said such acts could not necessarily be brought in within the purview of the human rights violation but that should be controlled by the authority concerned.
Although security forces and Naga undergrounds are engaged in charging and counter-charging each other for violation of the ceasefire ground rules in the State, the Human rights activist asked "what is the benefit of conducting all these raids".
"Because if they arrested some of the cadres or seized weapons, under the prerogative of the laid down ground rules of the ceasefire, they would automatically have to release the arrested cadres or the seized weapons," Krome said. "So in fact, it is only causing fear psychosis in the minds of the civilian population in the areas".
|