Nagaland Firing | Road So Bad That Its Impossible For Vehicle To Flee: BJP Ally Says Amit Shah Twisted Facts
During his address in the Lok Sabha earlier this week, Amit Shah said security forces had opened fire on civilians in Nagaland after they tried to flee.
New Delhi: BJP's ally in Meghalaya, the Nationalist People's Party (NPP), has claimed that Union Home Minister Amit Shah twisted facts during his address in Parliament on the Nagaland firing incident, which left 14 people dead.
During his address in the Lok Sabha earlier this week, Amit Shah said security forces had opened fire on civilians in Nagaland after they tried to flee.
NPP leader Tohovi Achumi said it was impossible for a vehicle to run away as the road near Oting in Mon district was very bad, PTI reported.
"We have visited the ambush site. There is no question of any vehicle going by more than 10 kilometres per hour speed; the road is so bad. No vehicle can flee from there. Also, there are bullet holes in the windshield of the vehicle. How can someone be shot from the front if he was fleeing?" PTI quoted Tohovi Achumi as saying.
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The NPP leader made the remarks after a party delegation visited Oting on Thursday.
"We strongly condemn Amit Shah's statement. He has deviated from facts and twisted them. There were no security check-points at Oting nor were the victims trying to flee, as claimed by Shah," Achumi said.
Last week, Army personnel mistook coal mine workers returning home in a pick-up van to be insurgents belonging to the Yung Aung faction of the banned outfit NSCN (K), about whose movements they had been tipped off, and opened fire, killing six people.
Eight others, including an army man, were killed in a subsequent clashes between the force and villagers.
Achumi said it was a mystery why police personnel and para-military force Assam Rifles were not there at the site along with the Army team.
"It requires under AFSPA that local police and any other security agency operating in an area be informed before undertaking any operation by the army. That provision was clearly violated," PTI quoted the NPP leader as saying.
Congress Attacks Amit Shah Over Nagaland Incident
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also alleged that Home Minister Amit Shah had "misled" the Lok Sabha.
"Inside the House, the Home Minister had given a misleading statement when he said those people who were shot dead had tried to flee after being signalled to stop," Chowdhury said in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour.
"Those people who have been admitted to the hospital have said 'direct marise'. It means they have been shot directly," he said.
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