Oting residents ban Indian army personnel from entering village

KOHIMA: Residents of Oting village, the site of the encounter by armed personnel that left at least 14 civilians dead, have barred the armed forces from their area, warning them of dire consequences otherwise.

Residents of the village, under the banner of Oting Citizens, wrote in a communique: “…the people of Oting also bars all groups and parties of various factions of the Indian arm forces indefinitely from entering Oting jurisdiction (which includes Lower Tiru). Violating this directive the people of Oting shall not be responsible in any manner to whatsoever happen in the near future.”

The Oting citizens also “dared” the armed forces to “come out clean so as to deliver timely justice.”

In another release, the Oting residents gave their version of the events of December 4, claiming that armed personnel tried to frame the miners as insurgents. They also claimed that the army fired indiscriminately at the villagers when the confronted the soldiers.

In the strongly worded release, the residents tagged the armed personnel as “nothing but a bunch of cowards dressed in camouflage.”

The release said that the residents of the hamlet usually spent the week at the mine before returning home every Saturday in time for Sunday church service.

Authorities said large crowds of angry villagers gathered in Mon town on Sunday and marched to the Assam Rifles camp, setting it on fire.

The state government immediately sprang into action with a high level of Special Investigation Team (SIT) and set up a team led by a senior Inspector General of Police Limasunep Jamir. Union Home Minister Amit Shah issued a statement in the Parliament and Indian Army has also appointed a high-level court of inquiry led by a Senior Major General to ascertain the events leading to the unfortunate incident.

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