Nagaland firing: State Cabinet decides to ask Centre to repeal AFSPA

In the aftermath of the civilians' death in an anti-insurgency op that went awry in Mon district, the Nagaland cabinet has decided to appeal to the Central government to immediately repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

Kohima: The Nagaland cabinet in an emergency meeting convened on Tuesday decided to appeal to the Central government to immediately repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in the aftermath of the recent killing of 14 civilians by the security forces in Mon district.

"People have spoken very strongly about the unfortunate incident. At today's state cabinet meeting, we decided to ask Government of India to repeal AFSPA not only in Nagaland but Northeast (altogether)," CM Neiphiu Rio told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

"Through AFSPA, the excessive made by Armed Forces doesn't go well with the people in a democratic country like India ...It's a good thing that they (Centre) admitted to having made the wrong judgement through the tip... Hoping that justice is done," the CM said.

Read: Former MoS Home Jitendra Singh calls Nagaland killings 'complete intelligence failure'

On Monday, the Nagaland government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident.

The Army has also instituted a Court of Inquiry to probe the killing of civilians in what was to be an operation targeting the alleged militants.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday informed the Rajya Sabha that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has directed all agencies to ensure that "no such unfortunate incident recurs in future while undertaking operations against insurgents".