A REPORTER
SHILLONG: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) Central Executive Committee (CEC) has stated that the council condemned the brutal, inhumane and barbaric act of the Indian armed forces leading to the death of 17 Naga civilians on December 4, 2021 at Oting village under Mon district of Nagaland.
"The so-called operation of the armed forces is nothing but a mere excuse and cover up of its complete failure to distinguish between innocent unarmed civilians and the so-called militants and hence civilian lives werelost as a result of the shooting spree," Roy Kupar Synrem, general secretary HYC-CEC, said.
He said the council would like to reiterate the fact that the root cause for such a bold act of killing spree by armed dorces in States like Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh was the draconian AFSPA which provides immunity to the armed dorces to act without any repercussion in the so-called "disturbed areas".
"Hence, we call upon each and everyone of our brothers and sisters, especially our elected representatives in the Northeast to stand together and impress upon the Union Government to repeal the operation of AFSPA in the north-eastern region in order to avoid any further loss of innocent civilians," he said.
The HYC also expressed condolence to all the family members of those who were brutally killed on December 4, 2021.
"We assure our Naga brothers and sisters that we stand by them in these trying times as they fight for justice," he said adding, "We also call upon the Government of India to reign in their armed forces if they really wish peace to prevail in the region, as incidents like these will only bring instability, which is not a good sign for the region as a whole. Steps should be taken towards building a peaceful Northeast and the correct and necessary steps towards achieving full peace are withdrawal or repeal of AFSPA from the region completely as well as deployment or stationing armed dorces to the bare minimum."
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