Oting’s future appears grim with no source of joy, says survivor’s mother

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Dec. 8 (EMN): Oting village has always celebrated joyous occasions and mourned losses together but now, the future appears grim ‘with no source of joy’ in sight, shared Amkhao Konyak, a mother of one of the injured civilians from the Dec. 4 incident.

Speaking to Eastern Mirror from Christian Institute of Health Sciences and Research (CIHSR) on Wednesday, Konyak recounted the events of the fateful night where the village collectively echoed the sounds of heartbreak and trauma.

She shared that her son did not answer her calls, which she made after learning of the firing incident.

Konyak’s 31-year-old son N Tingten Konyak, who survived the incident, was shot at when he was around the vicinity making an inventory of some required materials for his personal work.

The patient’s detailed board hung in his cabin reads, “N Tingten Konyak, gunshot injury left hemothorax”.

Hearing the gunshots, he assumed it to be an ‘insurgency’ but upon reaching the place, he could see ‘bullets in the air and passing through him’.

 “I ducked behind an excavator along with some of the villagers and due to the bullet injury, I fell unconscious for some time and could hear the shouts of the armed forces, although vague. I went blank as it happened suddenly. I was near the location where the incident happened and it was not pitch-dark. I was shot point-blank on my left leg,” he recounted.

Although left with no strength because of the injury from the remnants of the bullets which hit other parts of his body, he managed to get up to make a call. But finding that his phone was missing, he used one belonging to another injured villager who was taking shelter behind the excavator.

“Four of us were taken to the nearest Namsa Primary Health Centre in my vehicle by one of my relatives for first aid. But unfortunately, one of the injured who got married on Nov. 25 died on the way and the next thing I remember was getting treated in Mon and then being airlifted to Dimapur,” he recalled.

The aftermath of the events, he said, was vague.

Konyak was in the ICU for three days, unaware of the incident that had unfolded.

He was out of the ICU on Wednesday while three others are also getting treated at the same hospital. One IRB personnel injured in the Mon incident was also discharged on Wednesday, it was informed.

‘No mother should go through the pain of losing their family in such an encounter for no fault of theirs,’ the mother shared.

Meanwhile, Tingten Konyak said the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) should be repealed and further expressed his empathy for the 14 people who were killed. He added that they were the bread earners of the family so compensating their families was important. 

It may be mentioned that another injured survivor, around 28-29 years old, who is getting treated at CIHSR, is said to have a bullet lodged in his spinal cord. However, removing it through surgery could put his life at risk but he can continue to live a ‘normal’ life with the lodged bullet, it was informed.