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Nagaland civilian killings: Congress delegation to visit state, submit report within 7 days
The four members included the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) general secretary Jitendra Singh, AICC in-charge for Nagaland Ajoy Kumar and party lawmakers Gaurav Gogoi and Anto Antony.
The Congress party on Monday constituted a four-member delegation to visit Nagaland, where a botched up military operation and ensuing violence led to the killing of 14 civilians, a release said.
The delegation would submit a report to the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi within seven days.
“Congress President has constituted a delegation comprising the following members to visit Nagaland and report on matters related to the recent incidents of killing of innocent citizens and sequential violence in Mon district in Nagaland,” an order from the party on Monday showed.
The four members included the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) general secretary Jitendra Singh, AICC in-charge for Nagaland Ajoy Kumar and party lawmakers Gaurav Gogoi and Anto Antony.
Also read | Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee condemn Nagaland killings
On Sunday, party leader Rahul Gandhi condemned the incident and demanded the Centre must reply regarding the deaths. “What exactly is the home ministry doing when neither civilians nor security personnel are safe in our own land?” he tweeted.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too expressed her condolences and said that the families of those that lost their lives deserved justice.
Union home minister Amit Shah addressed both Houses of Parliament on Monday regarding the Nagaland incident that has caused a furore among people and opposition party leaders alike.
Amit Shah said the army had information regarding the movement of extremists in the Mon district and laid an “ambush” in the suspected area. He also said a vehicle arrived at the location and was signalled to stop but it tried to speed away. “On suspicion that the vehicle was carrying extremists, the personnel fired at it killing 6 of 8 people,” he said.
“Six out of eight people in the vehicle died. It was later found to be a case of mistaken identity. Two others who were injured were taken to the nearest health centre by the army. After receiving news of this, local villagers surrounded the army unit, set two vehicles on fire and attacked them,” he added.
Opposition parties demanded a discussion following Shah’s statements but, were refused the opportunity. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the opposition has many questions but the House was adjourned following Shah’s statement.
“We wanted to ask about compensation to the bereaved families, as well as about compensation from the central government. But we were not given an opportunity,” news agency ANI quoted Kharge as saying later.
“He (Amit Shah) just spoke and said in the last paragraph that "government regrets". What does that mean? It means that you committed a mistake,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress also announced it would send a five-member party to Nagaland to meet with the families of the victims.
