Unions resent arrest of cardamom traders, Itanagar

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: The Wancho Students’ Union and the Longding District Students’ Union have expressed strong resentment at what they described as ‘blunder’ of the security forces by apprehending innocent cardamom traders of Longding district on September 15 last as NSCN (K) over ground workers.

They were identified as Palai Wangsa, Bankpoh Lukham, Langphua Lukham, Akbar Sheikh and Imtijaj Rehman. “The five persons who were falsely accused as over-ground workers of the NSCN (K) during an operation were actually cardamom traders and are now released after proper documentation,” the unions stated in a press release. Expressing concern over the false accusation, WSU president Pongngoi Joham said, “Such acts would instead hinder the economic activities of our area in near future. False accusation and tagging innocent people as terrorists or OGWs is not the right way to demonstrate the bravery.” The unions demanded an assurance from the security forces that innocent people of the district would not be falsely harassed henceforth.