Dimapur, June 9 (MExN): The National Highway Area Village Councils' Forum, representing 13 villages along the 4-lane stretch of National Highway-29, has announced a six-hour “Shutters Down” protest on June 11 to express outrage over the May 23 attack at Unity Village and long-standing grievances with ceasefire violations and law enforcement inaction.
The shutdown, scheduled from 6 a.m. to 12 noon, will see black flags displayed across shops and business establishments in the area as a mark of protest. The forum urged all like-minded villages, business communities, and urban local bodies across Nagaland to join in solidarity.
In a statement, Forum convenor Sebas Zumvu said that the perpetrators of the “dastardly act” at Unity Village have not been apprehended despite being identified and named in an FIR filed by the Unity Village Council. The statement also accused various Naga political groups of blatant and repeated violations of the Ceasefire Ground Rules and alleged that designated Ceasefire Monitoring Offices have become “safe havens for criminals.”
“These offices shelter those who commit crimes and take refuge there, while security forces remain helpless due to the restrictive ground rules which prevent them from entering these premises,” the Forum said.
It denounced the continued extortion of business houses, village councils, and civilians, as well as incidents of abduction and torture, calling the Naga public “sufferers” of unchecked underground activity.
It also criticized the Government of India for its “deafening silence” on the Naga political issue, noting that the Indo-Naga peace talks were reportedly concluded on October 31, 2019, but no resolution has been announced.
