The Nagaland government on Sunday said that a new committee will be instituted to look into the withdrawal of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the state.
The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah with chief ministers of Nagaland and Assam on December 23.
The committee will be chaired by MHA’s additional secretary for northeast and include the chief secretary and DGP of Nagaland, among others.
It will submit its report within 45 days and the decision to repeal AFSPA will be taken based on the recommendation of the panel members, the Nagaland government said in a statement.
“It was discussed in the meeting that a Court of Enquiry will initiate disciplinary proceedings against the Army unit and Army personnel, who are directly involved in the Oting incident and action will be taken immediately,” the statement said.
Earlier, the Nagaland assembly had unanimously adopted a resolution demanding that the Centre repeal AFSPA from the northeast and specially from the state “so as to strengthen the ongoing efforts to find a peaceful political settlement to the Naga political issue”.
Thirteen civilians were gunned down by security foces at Oting village of Mon district on December 4 in a botched anti-insurgency operation.
The incident led to cries by civil groups and rights activists for the repeal of the “draconian law”.
The chief ministers of Nagaland and Meghalaya had also sought the revocation of AFSPA.
(With inputs from agencies)