Dimapur, October 3 (MExN): The National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) Provisional Government has expressed condolences over the deaths of 20 people in Tuensang and Mokokchung districts following the consumption of suspected spurious liquor and called for strict enforcement of the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act, 1989.
In a press release issued by its Media and Publicity Cell on Friday, the NSCN Provisional Government said 11 people had lost their lives in Tuensang district and nine in Mokokchung district.
It expressed condolences to the bereaved families and wished a speedy and full recovery to those still hospitalised.
“Those were not mere statistics. They were our brothers – Naga lives extinguished by calculated greed,” the press release said.
The organisation alleged that the incidents were the result of the proliferation of adulterated and spurious liquor, and said the tragedy had been “seeded, nurtured and allowed to flourish in the shadows of our own law”.
It alleged that certain elements had “weaponised” the NLTP Act, 1989, describing the law as a collective moral conviction that had allegedly been turned into an instrument of what it termed “quiet slaughter”.
“Through adulterated and spurious liquor, they are killing our people silently day by day in our towns and villages. This is not accident. This is design,” it said.
The NSCN Provisional Government said it viewed the development with “unreserved disapproval” and that serious investigations were underway.
It assured the people of Nagaland that every individual found guilty, as well as every network connected to what it described as the “grievous criminal enterprise”, would be held accountable.
The organisation also called for wider institutional and public action, saying accountability could not rest with the Provisional Government alone.
It urged the Nagaland Baptist Churches Council (NBCC), which it said had advocated prohibition, not to remain silent over the deaths.
“We do not condemn the NBCC – we call upon it to awaken,” it said, adding that the Naga civil society could not remain on the sidelines.
It called for collective action if prohibition was to be enforced effectively, saying the people must “stand together as one people, one voice and one conscience”.
The NSCN Provisional Government also criticised the Nagaland government, saying its “blind eye” to the situation could not be accepted.
“A body vested with such authority and power; if it takes no action must itself be held questionable,” it said, adding that “indifference at such a moment is not neutrality – it is complicity”.
The organisation appealed to citizens of Nagaland to remain vigilant and join hands in the effective implementation of the NLTP Act.
It sought public cooperation and said unity in enforcing the prohibition law was an urgent necessity.
“The death demand justice. The living demands action. Let us not fail them both,” it said.
