Suspected NSCN (I-M) terrorists gunned down Arunachal Pradesh MLA Tirong Aboh and his family members at Bogapani in Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh at around 11 am yesterday.
National People’s Party (NPP) MLA candidate and sitting MLA of 56 Khonsa West, Aboh was travelling in a three-car convoy along with his family from upper Assam’s Dibrugarh to Khonsa when the attack took place. Aboh and his younger son died on the spot.
National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) is a Christian-Maoist Naga terrorist group, whose goal is to establish a sovereign Naga state, “Nagalim”, consisting of all areas inhabited by the Naga people in Northeast Bharat and Northwest Myanmar. Its manifesto is based on the principle of Maoism for economic development and a spiritual outlook – ‘Nagaland for Christ’.
In some of their documents, the NSCN has called for recognising only the Baptist (an evangelical Protestant Christian sect) religion in ‘Nagalim’. Extremists within the Baptist Church also back other terror groups in the region like The National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT).
Currently, all NSCN factions are in peace talks with the Government of Bharat, but there appear to be new Naga groups that have cropped up who are at odds with each other & non-Nagas in different parts of the North-East.
Other NPP workers have also come under attack in Arunachal – an NPP supporter was beaten to death by NSCN (I-M) cadre in Tirap district on March 29, while another person was injured in the same attack.
NPP, a tribal-centric party, is part of the BJP-led North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA). Meghalaya CM and NPP national president Conrad K Sangma condemned the MLA’s murder and urged strong action against those responsible.
The NPP is extremely shocked and saddened by the news of the death of its MLA Shri Tirong Aboh (Arunachal Pradesh) and his family. We condemn the brutal attack and urge @rajnathsingh and @PMOIndia to take action against those responsible for such attack.
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) May 21, 2019
Arunachal Congress too condemned the attack but pinned the blame on central and state governments and demanded Arunachal CM Pema Khandu should step down.
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