No shots fired by us : ZUF
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, April 01 2016 : Coming out with its side of the story on the incident near Lenglong Kuki village wherein Major Amit Deswal of Special Forces (Commando) of the Indian Army of 21 Para and one civilian were killed, the Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) said that the army personnel might have been killed by their own bullets as its cadres had not fired a single bullet at the security forces on the day.

ZUF also alleged that the civilian was killed by the security forces after capturing him.

In a statement, information and publicity secretary of ZUF, A Longmei said that on April 11, the Rashtriya Rifles and Special Force led by Major Amit Deswal waylaid and ambushed cadres of Zeliangrong Tiger Force (ZTF, the armed wing of ZUF).

The security personnel fired indiscriminately towards the ZTF cadres in which one civilian namely, Lalchuailo Neihsial, s/o Nona Neihsial of Lenglong village was killed on the spot.

Two civilians were requested by the ZTF cadres just to lead the way to their destination/camp after returning from normal duty and the two as local people had shown their respect and cooperation and happily agreed and led the way, it said.

The ZUF also denied the allegations levelled by the KSO that the ZUF cadres picked up the two civilians forcibly.

At the same time, the outfit condoled the demise of Lalchuailo Neihsial.

When the security forces started firing at the ZTF cadres from unknown directions, the ZTF cadres along with the two civilians tried to withdraw from the spot unconditionally without any reiteration.

But the Indian Army captured one civilian and killed him later, it said.

The ZTF cadres did not shoot back even a single bullet as they didn't know from where and in which direction and from which party the attack came from.

All the cadres of ZTF reached their designated camp safe and sound.

There is no casualty on the side of the ZTF.

It is certain that Major Amit Deswal and other personnel might have been killed by the bullet of the security personnel itself as there was no retaliation from the side of the ZTF, it said.

The Indian Army blatantly blamed the ZUF to save the image of the Indian Army from the mistake committed by them.

Also the Indian Army has termed the ZUF as a terrorist group/organization through a national TV channel on April 14 which is inappropriate, it said.

The term terrorist is wrong as the organization is friendly with the local people and does not terrorize the public in anyway.

The public should be aware of the sinister design of the Indian security forces to malign the good image of the peace loving Zeliangrong armed cadres who are pursuing the genuine cause of their people, it said.

The Indian Government did not heed the repeated appeals issued by the peace loving Zeliangrong people to Prime Ministers Dr Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi.

To ignore the genuine and legitimate Homeland demand within the Constitution of India by the sons and daughters of the great freedom fighters Haipou Jadonang and Rani Gaidinliu is uncalled for, it said.

The ZUF will never stop its struggle until and unless it achieves the goal, it affirmed.

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