Nagas being subjected to untold trauma, 'heavy' mental burden: Global rights group

Counterview Desk
The International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS), with presence in 40 countries, even as strongly condemning the "murder" of 15 coal miners and injuring 11 more by the Indian army in Mon district, Nagaland, has said it is "joining" its network, Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), adding, it supports the Naga peoples, the people of India’s north east and all lovers of peace and freedom in calling for the immediate repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958.
Releasing a statement by NPMHR, it said, AFSPA is sought to be implemented by the Government of India in Northeast States allegedly enabling Indian army’s "massacre of indigenous peoples and citizens with impunity." Calling for justice for all the "victims" of the Indian government, it has floated an online petition to repeal AFSPA to seek international solidarity.

NPMHR statement:

Ever since military aggression and occupation of the Naga homeland in 1954, civilians and common Naga people have been the target of the Indian army and the para-military forces. Armed with Draconian and inhuman legal immunity by the Indian Parliament, the Government of India continues unabated to kill civilians and common people at any time and at any place of its conveniences. Our women folks were stripped of all human dignity by the armed forces of the world’s largest Democracy, India.
They are being raped, tortured, made to give birth publicly with no more human dignity left and are being subjected to live lives of untold trauma and heavy mental burdens. The Indian State does not spare any of its armed tools and occupational instruments to extinguish the Naga spirit of human dignity and spirit of equal human brotherhood. The world is prevented from knowing these ceaseless state-sponsored crimes against the Naga people and against humanity.
The reign of the Indian State-sponsored terrorism and war waged on civilian population is yet again showcased when the best-trained Indian elite forces butchered a group of humble people returning to their homes in a truck from their work places. The well-trained Indian army personnel engaged their most sophisticated firearms to kill them as if the simple, humble and bread-earning villagers were diseased and had to be culled.
Are the lives of the Naga people less than the lives of other fellow human beings? This evil act of the Indian government through its military forces once again reveals its true intent of owning our land after exterminating our Naga people.
Our people at all times seek to live in peace with all other people. Our history tells that we have never waged war on any people even in the days of old. We are being denied to live lives of dignity, to exercise our rights and are now being driven to live in fear. The Government of India, time and again, wages war against our Naga people. The actions of the Indian State upon our people are no less than the erstwhile apartheid. No power on earth had ever succeeded in subduing our Naga spirit.
We, the Naga Peoples’ Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), resolutely condemn the genocide committed upon the humble working-civilian villagers. We squarely hold the Government of India with all its draconian and fascist laws responsible for letting loose their dogs of war to maul to shreds the innocent villagers of Oting who have committed no crime whatsoever except commitment to humbly earn their livelihood with dignity and honor. Even at this moment when we are making this Statement, the Indian military and paramilitary forces are still engaged in their mayhem of killing the civilians in Mon Town.
Our anguish is unspeakable at this moment of grief. Our hearts go to the families of the slain innocent villagers. The NPMHR stands with them all and shall walk with them through thick and thin.

Comments

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram* When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

The selective memory of a violent city: Uttam Nagar and the invisible victims of Delhi

By Sunil Kumar* Hundreds of murders take place in Delhi every year, yet only a few incidents become topics of nationwide discussion. The question is: why does this happen? Today, the incident in Uttam Nagar has become the centre of national debate. A 26-year-old man, Tarun Kumar, was killed following a dispute that reportedly began after a balloon hit a small child. In several colonies of Delhi, slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Mataram” are being raised while demanding the death penalty for Tarun’s killers. As a result, nearly 50,000 residents of Hastsal JJ Colony are now living in what resembles a state of confinement.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Search This Blog