Trinamool team to visit Nagaland to meet families of civilians killed

A five-member delegation from the Trinamool Congress will visit Nagaland on Monday to meet the families of the civilians who were mistakenly killed by the security forces.

The five-member team, including four MPs — Sushmita Deb, Shantanu Sen, Aparupa Poddar and Prasun Bandopadhyay — will reach Otin village in Mon district in the morning. Former Mizoram advocate Biswajit Deb will accompany the team as the fifth member.

Earlier, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. “Worrisome news from #Nagaland. Heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of those who were injured. We must ensure a thorough probe into the incident and ensure that all victims get justice!” the chief minister wrote in her tweet.

According to sources in the party, the delegation will go to the village and speak to the families of the deceased and the injured. They will also try to speak to the other villagers as well. The team will submit a report to the party after coming back on Tuesday morning.

However, the situation in the area remained tense after the security forces opened fire on civilians, which, the police said, was possibly a case of mistaken identity. Security forces had reportedly been tipped off about insurgents belonging to the Yung Aung faction of the banned outfit NSCN (K) and were tracking their movements. On Saturday, army personnel mistook coal mine workers returning home in a pick-up van as insurgents and gunned them down.

Calling the loss of lives unfortunate, the Army said the incident is being probed at the highest level and action would be taken as per law. Following the incident, the famous Hornbill festival in Kohima was shut down.

–IANS

sbg/dpb

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.

Digital Editor