Photo Courtesy Oting Citizens' Office
Oting, December 8 (MExN): Citizens of Oting village in Mon district broke its silence to release a detailed account of what it said, was the “final and true to the core” account of what happened on December 4 at Longkhao/Yatong of Oting Village where security forces killed 13 civilians.
On Wednesday, the Oting Citizens’ Office issued a communiqué sharing the “ground reality reports” and urged the publicity and media houses “not to be biased and twist the issue with misinterpretations.” It claimed that after the “massacre” of the 13 innocent civilians, the security forces also attempted to “brand the boys as militants.”
The sequence of events
Regretting the delay in sharing their account, the communiqué stated that at around 3:30 pm on Saturday, a pick-up truck carrying eight coal miners was returning from the mining site to attend Sunday service the next day and also observe the day of rest. At around 4:30 pm, the security forces ambushed that very pick-up truck without ascertaining anything about the passengers; “which we thought they (security forces) had a shootout with the insurgents,” it said.
The security forces then “blocked the road for all vehicular and all other movement in that direction from all sides, and diverted all vehicles to take the less frequented old Pioneer road. Meanwhile, villagers were anxiously waiting for the pick-up truck to reach the village, for they learnt that there was a shootout” on that stretch, the communiqué stated. It said that the villagers informed the District administration about the shootout that occurred.
According to the communiqué, at around 8:00 PM, the villagers went searching for the pick-up truck and found the empty pick-up truck, “with the bullet mark pierced in the windshield exactly at the driver’s position, blood stains covered with dust and mud, and the boys missing from the vehicle. The pierced windshield in the front by bullets clearly indicates that, they first shot the driver of the pick-up truck to halt and ambushed the remaining point blank.”
Following this, the villagers “chased the fleeing 3 (three) vehicles of Indian Armed Forces and intercepted them by overtaking their vehicles. They first denied any knowledge of the where about of the boys travelling to village on a pick-up truck.” It was then that the villagers searched the vehicles and in the third vehicle, they found that security personnel were “seated on top of the tarpaulin that covered the whole floor of the vehicle and under it the 6 half dressed boys were all lying dead.”
“The security forces attempted trying to brand the boys as militants by planting weapons and dressed them with camouflage uniforms and boots,” it alleged. As the villagers did not have any idea of the other remaining 2 boys from the vehicle, it was assumed that their bodies might have been dumped elsewhere, it added.
“So the situation turned into heated argument between the security forces and the villagers, subsequently turning into physical scuffles from both ends. All of a sudden, the security forces started firing indiscriminately and abruptly killing and injuring few others more in the spot. The unarmed villagers tried escaping,” the communiqué stated. It claimed that the security personnel stole their bikes, “firing in different directions killing and injuring many others on the way,” while trying to flee.
“They were permitted to leave peacefully even after our boys were killed, yet they continued firing and killing. They killed even those who were hiding under a machine,” it added.
We may be small and tiny in area and population, yet we are ready to compromise with situation to lose our heads and take the enemy's heads. For we are warriors by blood and origin, and no force can intimidate us," the statement asserted.
Stating that the reports submitted in the parliament, “are totally false and fabricated,” the communiqué added that “The statement made by prominent leader in the house is unwarranted and uncalled for.”
The people of Oting strongly question the accountability of the leaders, it said, while appealing leaders not to mislead and misconstrue the factual incident without accumulating the facts from the ground.
Ban on Naga political groups, Indian Armed Forces
Calling on the security forces to “come out clean so as to deliver timely justice to the victims’ families,” the people of Oting also declared an indefinite ban on all factions, groups and parties of Naga political groups and the Indian Arm Forces from entering Oting jurisdiction, including Lower Tiru.
The villagers then warned that if anyone is found violating this directive, “the people of Oting shall not be held responsible in any manner,” to whatever happens.
“For the people of Oting, the same old head hunting days may soon make a comeback after the incident of December 4, 2021, though the target and enemy may vary this time. We may be small and tiny in area and population, yet we are ready to compromise with situations to lose our heads and take enemy’s heads,” it asserted.
