Total bandh in Wokha district of Nagaland from today

The All Commercial Vehicle Association (ACVA) of Wokha district in Nagaland has imposed a total bandh within Wokha district since Monday morning.

Vehicular traffic came to a grinding halt while business establishments kept their shutters closed. The shutdown has been called in protest against the seizure of taxi keys by NSCN (IM), Kohima region recently for not paying ‘yearly tax’.

The bandh supporters asserted firmly the shutdown will continue until the keys are returned. However, police, paramilitary, district administration, medical ambulance, press & media, postal service, and fire & emergency service will be exempted from its purview.

Meanwhile, the Action Committee Against Unabated Taxation (ACAUT), the watchdog against corruption in the State urged the Naga political groups against indulging in criminal acts.

A press note from the ACAUT said statesmanship of the Naga Political Groups is called for at this juncture. It, however, stated that ‘provoking the masses with condemnable criminal activities is not only foolish but creating roadblocks towards settlement of the Naga issue itself’.

The ACAUT particularly pointed to two specific incidents – the seizing of a taxi in Kohima on December 13 and the kidnapping of a DAN secretary.

“The Naga Political Groups creating such a situation is totally condemnable,” it stated and asked that the concerned groups take immediate remedial measures.

The ACAUT asked that the NSCN (IM) Kohima Command/Region should return the keys of the taxis which its cadres had seized on December 13 to the rightful owners immediately and apologize publicly, ‘failing which the ACAUT will be compelled to file FIR and resort to other course of action’.

The ACAUT said it supported the indefinite bandh called by the All Commercial Vehicles Association to protest the manner in which its members have been harassed.

It further demanded that the NSCN (R) ‘clear the air surrounding their role in the kidnapping of a bonafide Naga’, pointing to the kidnapping of a DAN secretary. It demanded that the NSCN (R) issue a public apology and terminate its erring cadres in case the organization is responsible.