AFSPA Guwahati: Days after the killing of 14 civilians in the firing incidents in Mon district, the Nagaland cabinet on Tuesday decided that the state government will write the centre to immediately repeal the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA), 1958 from the state.
Announcing the state cabinet decisions, Nagaland Planning minister Neiba Kronu said the Cabinet has decided to write to the Government of India to immediately repeal the Armed Forces Special Power Act, 1958 from the state.
“The Cabinet has also decided to support the demands put forward by the Konyak Union to the President of India. An emergency Cabinet meeting was called to discuss the firing incident in Mon district and the subsequence incident that followed in Mon town. The Cabinet was briefed on the actions taken by the government including setting up of a Special Investigation Team headed by an IGP and consisting of four other members,” Neiba Kronu said.
He stated that the Cabinet decided that the SIT should complete its investigation and submit its report by one month time.
With regards to the on-going Hornbill Festival 2021, Kronu said the Cabinet has decided to cease all activates in view of the mourning announced for the deceased in the firing incident.
“The Cabinet also decided to appeal to all elected representatives, Government employees and others to support entrepreneurs who have set up stalls for the Hornbill festival by actively purchasing the items sold by them. The Cabinet has directed that a simple and solemn closing ceremony should be held by the Tourism Department,” Kronu said.
The Nagaland Minister also said that, with regard to the firing incident, two people are still in critical condition in Dibrugarh Hospital, six other persons were admitted in CIHSR, Dimapur while 22 persons have been discharged.
On the other hand, Commissioner & Secretary for Tourism, I. Kitto Zhimomi on Tuesday announced at Kisama that, the state cabinet has decided to call off the Hornbill Festival.
He apologized on behalf of the Government of Nagaland.
He hoped that the cancellation of the festival because of the unfortunate firing incident will not discourage the tourists to come and visit Nagaland again.
He asked the tourists to empathize with the people of Nagaland. Zhimomi also added that all festivities will cease from today, however, the food stalls and stalls run by artisans and craftsmen will continue to remain open till Dec 10.
(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
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