‘Fact finding’ team on Phek firing comes out with report

EMN
Dimapur, July 21

The five-member fact-finding team of Wuzu firing, comprising Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) and Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) has come up with a report after visiting the spot and gathered report of eye witnesses from July 17- 19.
According to the report issued by Boveio Poukai Duo, General Secretary, Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) and Vibi Yhokha, Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), on July 15, firing started at Avankhu, (Also known as Avankhung) area where two NSCN K cadres were killed allegedly by Assam Rifles. The firing started around 11 p.m. at night and lasted till 5 a.m. in the morning of July 16.
On the same day, the bodies of the two cadres were being taken to Meluri via Wuzu by the AR. Five AR vehicles convoy (three 407 trucks, Gypsy, and one Tata truck) passed through Wuzu village by 6 p.m., according to eye witnesses in the village. The villagers, having learned that one of the slain cadres Captain Puhachu belonged to Wuzu village, decided to request the AR to hand over the body for proper burial in the village land as per Naga customs.
The report said, the village leaders of Wuzu and neighboring villages of Phor and New Phor stood by the side of the road and raised their hands when the army convoy was passing through. The first three vehicles spedded off without stopping. However, they stopped near the village community hall on seeing the Major stopped his vehicle, which is few metres away from where the villagers were standing.
The report said, the fourth vehicle carrying Major Surinder Singh and the last vehicle stopped where the villagers stood. The village leaders requested the Major who was well acquainted with them, if it was possible for the Major to handover the body to which the Major expressed his inability. So they requested the Major to at least take the coffin for the dead bodies to which the Major agreed. The conversation lasted for about two minutes when they started hearing gunshots from the direction of the AR truck near the community hall which was followed by indiscriminate firing from the vehicle of the Major and the last vehicle behind the Major’s vehicle. Aso and Tiizali were killed from the bullets of the Jawans who fired from the Major’s vehicle, according to the eye witnesses. The villagers also stated that the shots fired by the Jawans were not blank firing but aimed directly at the civilians. The firing lasted for about 20 minutes.
Bullet marks were seen in the houses and trees in the whole stretch. The villagers have collected around 140 empty shells.

Witnesses have claimed that there could be much more empty cases inside the AR vehicles as the maximum number of gunshots was fired inside the vehicle.
A civilian non-villager who happened to be at the site of the incident at that point in time witnessed the entire incident, the report stated. He was by the site of the community hall next to the Army Maruti Gypsy vehicle where he witnessed the first gunshot being fired from the Assam Rifles Gypsy.
According to accounts of witnesses, Aso, 13, a class VII student of GHS Pholary, was the youngest child in her family. Aso was said to be a promising student. Her own grandfather was killed by the Indian Army in the 1960’s during the battle of Thuda Phor. She was inside her relative’s house when the jawans fired. The bullet hit right below her armpit and came on the other side of her body.
Tiizali, 14, of Class 7 student from GHS Pholary belonged to the neighboring village Phor, which is a walking distance from Wuzu village. Tiizali was with his three other friends right above the road when the shooting started. His friends escaped but he was shot in the chest and the skull.
The fact finding team visited Esther Jorror, 24, on July 19 at the Community Health Centre of Meluri. Esther was shot in the right arm by the Assam Rifles. She was carrying her one year and five months old baby when she heard the firing. She ran inside the house of Yichiili for cover but was shot in the arm while running for cover. It is the same house where Aso was killed. Esther saw Aso being shot. Esther’s husband Ritu Jorror was also at the spot and was an eye witness to the firing by Assam Rifles.
The NSF and NPMHR fact- finding team has taken pictures of the bullet marks in houses which were shot. The Assam Rifles claimed that the NSCN-K had shot from the hilltops but the bullet marks and eye witness evidences indicate that the Assam Rifles shot directly at the civilians and the houses.
The team called on Maj. Surinder Singh of the 46 AR C Coy at his camp at Akhegwo Post. In course of the interaction, he admitted that he was not sure who shot the students in the village. He further told the team to contact his superiors, particularly the IGAR, on the matter. The team also noticed a group of Para Commando personnel of the Indian army with their strange looks and unusual uniform. Maj. Surinder Singh also revealed that the assault team comprised of personnel from the Para Commando personnel of the Indian Army along with the jawans from the Assam Rifles under his command. He also admitted that he had an officer senior to him and some other Junior Commissioned Officers at the spot where the students were murdered. On being queried how he could claim that the NSCN (K) had killed the students, he responded that he was not sure and requested the team to contact the IGAR (N).
The team said, “This is particularly interesting because it is ascertained that there was no presence of the cadres of the NSCN (K) in the vicinity. If the Major himself who was present at the incident of July 16 is not sure, then how can the IGAR (N) be so sure in there press statements that the two students were killed by the NSCN (K)?”