Guwahati: The Global Naga Forum (GNF) has strongly condemned the killing of Naga civilians in an attack along the IT Road in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district on August 27 and demanded immediate action from the Central and State Governments to ensure justice and dignity for the victims.
The death toll later rose to five after another critically injured person succumbed to their injuries while being taken to a medical facility.
In a press statement issued on August 28, the GNF said gunmen struck on the morning of August 27 along the IT Road, between Makui Ashang and Thanamba Naga village.
The GNF described the incident as part of a wider pattern of violence against Naga civilians. It also referred to six slain and dismembered bodies of Naga people that, according to the organisation, continue to lie in a hospital morgue as the demands of the Naga people remain unfulfilled by both the Central and State Governments.
“The Global Naga Forum strongly condemns the killing of four innocent Naga brothers,” the statement said, adding that the continued failure of both governments to address the demands of the Nagas and ensure justice and dignity for the victims had deepened the anguish and sense of abandonment among the people.
The forum questioned the role of the security apparatus in Manipur, alleging that despite the Government of India maintaining a heavy security presence in the state, ordinary Naga civilians continued to remain vulnerable to attacks.
The GNF claimed that Naga civil bodies had previously raised concerns over what it described as a pattern in which security forces were visible during peaceful protests but absent at locations where attacks took place.
The organisation also criticised the Suspension of Operations (SoO) framework, alleging that it had been misused to protect armed cadres operating from designated camps.
The GNF alleged that the framework had “mutated from a peace pact into a license for terror” and questioned the Central Government’s responsibility for security along vital roads.
“If New Delhi and its security architecture cannot secure a stretch of vital road, then the SoO is a fraud, and the Central government is an active accessory to ethnic bloodshed,” the organisation said.
The GNF also criticised Kuki political leadership and said general appeals for peace were no longer sufficient.
It referred to a statement issued by Thadou Inpi, described by the GNF as one of the Kuki apex bodies, following the ambush. According to the forum, Thadou Inpi had named individual commanders inside SoO camps and demanded their arrest.
The GNF called for the arrests of those named and said political leadership must ensure that armed elements allegedly operating within its territorial and political sphere face action.
The organisation said political legitimacy required concrete action against those accused of involvement in violence.
The forum also criticised Naga political leadership and questioned its ability to protect civilians.
In its statement, the GNF said, “we have become a paralyzed nation”, criticising what it described as repeated press statements, funerals and memoranda without adequate action to prevent attacks on civilians.
It also warned against what it described as the normalisation of violence and accused the leadership of failing to adequately respond to attacks on Naga people.
At the same time, the GNF said it rejected the path of blind revenge.
“The GNF rejects the path of blind revenge, because revenge is what our enemies want to reduce us to,” the statement said.
However, the organisation also rejected what it described as the passive death of its people and said it was “done with condolences” and “done with asking for permission to live”.
The forum said leaders at the State, Central and Naga levels would be judged by their ability to protect civilians.
“If our leaders, state, central, or our own, cannot guarantee that a Naga citizen can travel a road and return home alive, then they have forfeited their right to lead,” the GNF said.
The organisation called for immediate action to protect Naga civilians, ensure accountability for the killings and address the concerns raised by the Naga people.