Nagaland government officials have said “several lapses” were made by not following Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) while carrying out the security operation in Mon district on December 4 in which 14 civilians were killed.
According to sources, no specific input was shared with local authorities either by central agencies or Intelligence units about the movement of militants on that route where the operation was conducted by special forces.
In the meeting held earlier this week, local police and administrative officials also raised the matter of unprovoked firing and conducting an operation without involving them.
“There was no provocation from locals. They were unarmed and tried to flee when Army jawans signalled them to stop. Even if they accelerated the vehicle, troops could have punctured the vehicle and efforts should be made to nab them instead of firing from all corners,” a senior Nagaland police official said.
The official further said no input was shared by Intelligence agencies in the past few days “apart from a generic input.”
The representatives of the central government, who were also present in the meeting, were also briefed about the SOP.
“Normally, in such an operation, to establish the identity, forces take help of local asset who guide them and confirm the identity before firing or attacking militants. After that, forces, as per the law, try to arrest or nab once the identity gets established. Forces also keep local police in the loop so that situations of law and order during or after the operation can be handled. But in this case nothing was followed,” a senior Nagaland police official told News18 on condition of anonymity.
Local authorities have also questioned how the bodies were transported from one vehicle to another giving a sense that forces just wanted to get rid of them but locals took care of them, according to sources. The details have also been mentioned in the initial report prepared by the local police.
Sources also said jawans of Special Forces kept firing indiscriminately even when they reached the Assam border.
Union home minister Amit Shah had in Parliament said the vehicle, which was trying to flee, was suspected of carrying insurgents, was fired upon resulting in the killing of 6 out of 8 persons travelling in it. “However, it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. The two persons who sustained injuries were evacuated to the medical facilities by the Army personnel.”
Shah said the home ministry has got in touch with the chief secretary and DGP of Nagaland, besides deputing an additional secretary, in charge of the northeast to Kohima, who held a meeting with other senior officers of the state government on the incident.
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