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Meghalaya Chief Minister and National People’s Party Supremo Conrad K Sangma on Friday pledged his party’s solidarity with the people of Nagaland in demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958, from the entire North-eastern region.
14 civilian deaths
The demand for scrapping of the AFSPA that grants special powers to the armed forces to maintain public order in “disturbed areas” has been renewed following the death of 14 civilians last week in Nagaland’s Mon district in three consecutive episodes of firing by security forces, the first of which was a case of mistaken identity.
“I stand together with our NPP family and in solidarity with our brothers from Nagaland to demand #AFSPA to be repealed from the entire North East,” Sangma tweeted, hours after he addressed his party’s youth conference in Manipur.
‘Huge losses’
Addressing the programme, Sangma condemned the gunning down of innocent civilians in Nagaland by security forces and, at the same time, mourned the death of Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat in a chopper crash in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
Both incidents are huge losses for the country, he said.
Also see: Amit Shah regrets Nagaland firing, orders SIT probe
“But what is important is how we, as a nation, region and State, move forward given the situation that we faced in the two weeks,” Sangma said.
He also emphasised the need to channel the energy of the youth in the right direction.
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