NEFIS decries occupation of villages
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 18 2022: The North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS) has strongly condemned the occupation of nine villages in Ukhrul district by armed forces in recent days.

The villages have been occupied without the consent of the village councils and the people who are the inhabitants of the area, according to a press release issued by NEFIS.

As per reports, the armed forces have occupied public spaces such as playgrounds, schools, children homes, and community halls which have been converted into camps, thereby hindering their usual functioning.

Moreover, even private properties have been occupied.

Security posts have been set up in villages and inhabitants of the occupied villages are being subjected to daily harassment.

The occupation of lands in the nine villages contravenes Constitutional provisions and exposes utter disregard for the rights of the people in the North-East, it said.

Such incidents of occupation of lands and harassment of civilians have been a regular feature in the North-East region with the imposition of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) .

It has been alleged that the impunity enjoyed by the armed forces under AFSPA has been used to strike terror among the civil population of the region.

In this context, the killing of coalmine workers at Oting village of Mon district in Nagaland is illustrative.

Last year, the security forces personnel opened fire on a vehicle carrying coalmine workers at Oting allegedly taking them to be the cadres of a militant outfit.

The brutal killing by the armed forces personnel had sparked outrage among the people who have been seeing the impunity enjoyed by the security forces in the region under AFSPA as the prime cause of the killings.

Even the Central Government had expressed its regret after the killings, but even now the perpetrators of the killings have not been brought to justice, it decried Saying that it stands for protecting the democratic rights of the people, NEFIS has demanded the Central Government to ensure that the armed forces immediately vacate the villages which have been occupied.

It also called for demilitarization of the region and immediate repeal of the draconian law, AFSPA.

NEFIS would be intensifying its campaign against militarization in the North-East in the coming days, it added.

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