By Zarir Hussain
GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) – Funeral rites will be held on Monday for 15 civilians mistakenly killed by Indian forces in the northeastern border state of Nagaland, amid intense security and sporadic internet outages aimed at damping fresh unrest in the remote region.
Security and government officials have said 14 members of the region’s predominant Konyak tribe and one security trooper were killed on Saturday after the forces mistook a group of labourers for militants and opened fire.
Another member of the tribe was killed during protests on Sunday over the military action, which has prompted the government to launch an inquiry.
“Police are working with tribal elders and local politicians to ensure the final rites are done today as post-mortems have been completed,” said a police official in the state capital of Kohima, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Indian Home Minister Amit Shah is set to make a statement in parliament on Monday about security in the state, where police and government officials have hastily ramped up patrols ahead of the last rites.
The Indian Army has expressed “deep regret” over the intelligence lapse but state residents have demanded a shutdown of its operations, with camps being moved out of civilian areas.
People in Nagaland have frequently accused security forces of wrongly targeting innocent locals in counterinsurgency operations against rebel groups under the Armed Forces Powers Act.
Besides sweeping powers of search and arrest, the legislation allows Indian forces to open fire, if deemed necessary, to maintain public order in areas designated as “disturbed areas”.
India has placed in this category some parts of Nagaland, where it says rebel groups operate from thick jungles of an unfenced region that also spans the neighbouring states of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, which border Myanmar.
(Reporting by Zarir Hussain; Additional reporting and writing by Rupam Jain; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
