Dimapur, February 1 (MExN): The Central Nagaland Tribes Council (CNTC) today told the Chief Minister TR Zeliang and his cabinet legislators that rights of the Naga people cannot be suppressed all the time through use of brute tactics of imposing “repressive laws” like 144 CrPC and killing Naga civilians.
In a press release issued by its Media Cell, CNTC condemned the January 31 police action, where two Naga youths were shot dead. It demanded a judicial probe and immediate suspension of those police officers who gave the firing orders. The CNTC office bearers and all the executives also expressed condolences to the bereaved families.
The CNTC asserted it has viewed the incident very seriously “as these acts of always shooting down people while trying to quell some public disorder has become the hallmark of the Dimapur Police Commissionerate.” The police, it said, always have various other means to stop or control an unruly mob like the use of lathi-charge, tear-gas, rubber-pellets etc.
It further accused the present government of bringing the State into “such a condition of confusion, lawlessness and instability by their greed of some hundred crores which became more important than our hard-fought gotten and God- given rights through the wisdom of our fore-fathers.”
While lauding the NBCC for taking a “bold step” and playing the role of the mediator to break the impasse, the CNTC accused the Chief Minister of “betraying not only the people but even God which signifies their act of selling away God in their lust for power and money.”
The present legislators were cautioned that “it is just a matter of time before they are ousted and hurled into political and social wilderness after some few months never to return…” It asserted that the voice of the people is greater than any legislation or legislators.
The CNTC also directed its apex constituent units to recall their women bodies from the Naga Mothers’ Association and JACWR immediately.
