Naga People’s Organisation lifts counter bandh

Naga People’s Organisation has lifted the counter bandh which the organisation announced earlier to counter the 24 hour total shutdown imposed along Asian Highway-2 (Imphal–Dimapur) and National Highway-37 (Imphal–Jiribam)by Committee on Tribal Unity.

“On humanitarian grounds and in the larger interest of social harmony and public peace in the region, the NPO hereby lifts the counter-agitation with immediate effect” says NPO in a release issued on Wednesday following the suspension of the bandh imposed by CoTU.

The release stated that NPO was compelled to initiate a counter-agitation as an immediate and necessary step to protect the rights, safety, and dignity of the general public after repeated appeals and requests made to ensure humanitarian exemptions and public were ignored by the volunteers on the ground.

" Many individuals have missed their flights resulting in significant financial, professional and personal losses, raising serious questions of responsibility" NPO stated.

The organisation stated tha public democratic agitations such as shutdowns, dharnas, rallies, bans, and blockades are legitimate democratic means to express public dissatisfaction and to draw the attention of the concerned authorities.

However, it is a well-established democratic and humanitarian norm that essential emergency services, including medical services, emergency travel for flights, and fire services, must always be exempted from the purview of any form of agitation, it added.

NPO termed it deeply unfortunate and alarming that during the agitation, CoTU volunteers failed to ensure such humanitarian exemptions, causing severe hardship to the general public.
Such actions NPO said are not only unjustifiable but also inhumane, as they directly endanger human lives and obstruct critical humanitarian needs.

The organisation added that nearly 99% of commuters on NH-02 belong to Senapati District, making the so-called "total shutdown" appear, in effect, as a form of targeted harassment against the innocent general public of Senapati district.

The NPO firmly reiterates that democratic protest must never cross the boundary of humanity. No movement, cause, or agitation can ever justify the denial of emergency services and basic human necessities to innocent civilians.

The NPO also sternly warns that any agitation which crosses the boundary of humanity by targeting a particular community will never be compromised under any circumstances.