DIMAPUR, AUGUST 18 (MExN): Three cadres of the NSCN (I-M) were beaten to death by a mob inside the lockup of the Tuensang police station at around 1 pm today.
Police sources in Tuensang said the underground operatives were arrested after they assaulted a policeman in the town. Peeved by the action, men folk stormed the police station and, using stones and sticks, lynched the cadres who were handcuffed, police said.
“We were also injured,” a policeman said. “We were helpless.”
The NSCN (I-M), condemning the incident, in a press release stated, “Though the NSCN never condone such wayward lifestyle of the Phom regional members, the uncivilized way of venting the public anger is all the more condemnatory.”
Regretting that “our boys in the regional authority found themselves in the wrong side of the incident,” an MIP press release from the organization said, “We bow our head in shame that our boys went astray in such irresponsible manner degrading the name of the NSCN in the eye of the public.”
However, the release added, “Human understaning is sometime slow to act in the manner to save the situation from turning ugly. But what has been done cannot be undone anymore.
“The jungle culture of solving dispute should not have been applied by the Phom public. And they ought to be ashamed of the backwardness of their mindset.”
“The Tuensang incident could have been avoided had the public exercised constraint by heeding the voice of the conscience that such passionate reaction is not demanded and things could have been sorted out in a more human manner.
May the Phom public be awakened to the reality that the world around them has changed in keeping with the rest of the civilized society. And there are better ways of looking at the issue of any colour and solving it accordingly.”
Meanwhile, additional forces have been rushed to the area to contain the situation.
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