Apologies not enough, people need accountability: 'Saamana' on Nagaland killings

The article says that mere apologies by authorities over the deaths of innocent people should not be enough, and that there should be accountability over them.

Mumbai: The Saamana editorial has strongly criticized the recent Nagaland incident wherein 13 civilians were accidentally killed by the AFSPA as well as Home Minister Amit Shah for rendering mere apology over it. The editorial says that a just an apology is not enough to compensate for the lives of 13 innocent people and that the sin for their deaths is on the central government's shoulders.

The editorial further says that the civilians were killed because the officers deployed in Nagaland had received information that some perpetrators might enter the territory. Mistaking the civilians for the enemy, the officers fired shots and killed them. The article says that it's the fault of the intelligence services as much as it is of the soldiers who killed the civilians.

Although Home Minister Amit Shah has expressed regret over the incident and accepted that it was a mistake, the article speculates over the fact that if these 13 people were killed because of a 'mistake', how many more innocent people must have been killed so far from Kashmir to Nagaland because of such kind of 'mistakes'.

The article further states that many border areas have been declared as 'disturbed areas' and therefore security forces often get prompts from the intelligence services about the possible threats of rival plans. Therefore, the articles says, the emphasis should be on making the intelligence apparatus of the security forces more efficient.

'Instead of spying on the political opponents, the intelligence agencies of Ministry of Home Affairs should focus properly on more important things like these. It is amply clear, how hollow the information of intelligence agencies is. The BJP spokesperson and the Union Minister was continuously quoting the intelligence agencies during the farmers' protests claiming that the Khalistani terrorists are associated with their movement. Instead of getting involved in such propaganda, they should focus on the more pressing issues,' it said.

It also refers to the cruise ship drug case, saying that the officials of agencies like NCB make fake cases against specific targets and get away with it. Similarly, so many farmers were killed during the protests, and all that the Prime Minister did was apologize.

It further questions this pattern where people lose their lives because of the authorities' mistakes and those mistakes are expected to be forgiven after a vocal apology, and no-one is really held accountable for such grave actions and their repercussions. It concludes with a speculation that the day the masses decide that they cannot take these hollow apologies anymore, the centre will have to pay a heavy price like it is paying for the imposition of the farm laws.