Kohima: Naga people from all walks of life on Friday came to the streets protesting inter-factional clashes and harassment meted out to the public by armed Naga underground groups in the state capital.
Naga Students’ Federation (NSF), an apex students’ body in Nagaland, organised the rally against the assassination bid on one of its officials by a cadre of NSCN Khole-Kitovi faction here on June 25.
The NSF was demanding that such acts should be denounced and the accused penalised as per the law.
The demonstrators converged in the heart of Kohima town holding placards and banners demanding that the Naga underground groups should stop harassing innocent people in the name of Naga freedom movement.
They also demanded that the armed underground cadres should go to the jungles.
Delivering the key note address, NSF president Tongpang Ozukum denounced the insane act of the armed cadres and said that Nagas would not be terrorised by any inside or outside forces.
Naga Hoho vice president Inakha Assumi extending solidarity with the NSF reminded the Naga underground groups that the 1951 Plebiscite was signed to fight for Naga sovereignty and not to kill each other.
Other groups which participated in the protest were the Naga Mother’s Association (NMA) and the Angami Youth Organisation (AYO).
The President of the Angami Youth Organization (AYO) Medo Yhokha, in his speech, called upon the NSF and other civil societies to take the inter-factional clash as ‘national emergency’.
“Now time has come to the civil societies to put their heads together to hammer out a way to erase the arm fight menace from the society,” he added.
In his closing remark, the chairman of the function Ejangthung Ngullie, former NSF General Secretary appealed to the people of Nagaland to discourage the armed cadres to shelter in populated area and termed the factional fighting as demeaning and defaming the sanctity of the Naga society.
The federation also submitted a memorandum to the State Government and an ultimatum to various Naga underground groups to direct all the cadres irrespective of factions to be confined within their respective designated camps and monitor free movement of armed cadres in civilian areas. As a mark of solidarity, business establishments remained closed till noon while vehicular movement came to grinding halt for almost two hours.
2 shot dead in Dimapur : In yet another factional killing in Dimapur, a cadre of the NSCN (K) was picked up from his residence in Purana Bazar on Thursday and subsequently shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
Official sources said that the Dimapur police received a call from an unknown person informing that a dead body was lying at a teak plantation site in Thilixu village in Dimapur town.
Police recovered the body from the spot with a bullet wound on the head. Police identified the deceased as deputy secretary (finance) of NSCN (K) one Zhehuto from Phishu village under Zunheboto district. Police also recovered one empty case of 7.65 mm pistol from the spot. The body was later handed over to the family members.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident, one person reportedly a ‘2nd lieut’ in the NSCN (I-M) identified as Imliteka (36) of Japu village under Mokokchung district, was reportedly shot dead by his brother in-law after an altercation. (Agencies)