People of Oting village and neighbouring villages march to the December 4 incident site on December 20.
Offer prayers at incident site
Morung Express News
Dimapur | December 21
The people of Oting village held a peaceful march on December 20 to the site where 13 civilians were killed on December 4. The rally was held as a form of dedication of the place, where they offered prayers right at the spot of the killings.
A few hundred people including family members of the killed civilians, people from neighboring villages and laborers from the coal mining area took part in the solemn event. After reaching the site, the villagers offered prayers as a way of sanctifying the place and in remembrance of the departed.
“We offered prayers to God as a form of dedication and sanctification of the place, as Christians. Since the incident has left a fear psychosis amongst the travelers and the villagers alike,” Philip, a native of Oting told The Morung Express.
Philip said that the demand for justice was also reiterated at the rally as the people marched with placards and signs seeking punishment for the ‘murderers’ and revocation of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.
It was informed that members of the Konyak Baptist Bumeinok Bangjum (KBBB) and the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) also visited the incident site and held prayers.
Later in the evening, the people of Oting held a candle light vigil in memory of the killed civilians.
It may be mentioned that on Monday, the Konyak Union (KU) informed that an all Konyak summit would be convened on January 18, 2022 to decide the future course of action if the demands are not fulfilled. It therefore urged all the 9 Konyak elected members, all KU Units & KU Branches, all Konyak frontal organizations, and representatives from every Konyak villages to attend the summit positively and compulsorily.
