A week after killings, eerie calm in Oting

Oting (Nagaland): There is an eerie calm in Oting village in Nagaland’s Mon district, where despite the approaching Christmas there are no buntings or traditional decorations. Visitors to this remote hilly place are instead greeted with the sight of a lone white banner flapping in the air in memory of the13 hapless young mine workers who fell victim to bullets sprayed at them by security forces a week ago in a botched counter insurgency operation.

The calm speaks of the shock, sorrow and tension after the brutal killing and villagers, yet to come to grips with the tragedy, have put restrictions on accessing the site or visitors speaking to the bereaved families since the past two days. What strikes a visitor in this hour of grief is the famed Naga hospitality.

A community kitchen has been opened since the incident and all visitors - ranging from government officers, the police, tribesmen and journalists are offered a meal of steamed rice, yellow dal, meat and pickle besides drinking water and black tea. “It is a massive traedy. We appreciate the concern shown by everyone. We hope we get justice for the bereaved families,” an elderly inhabitant of the village said on Friday.

He is, however, firm on visitors not being allowed to meet the victims’ families. “The people coming from outside insist on meeting them. They make the families recount the horror over and over again. We decided to put a stop to it as there is no point in making them relive the loss,” he said.

Another villager, who identified himself at Kheatwang Konyak, tries to explain that the villagers are not against people coming to Oting at this time. “We are coordinating with the visitors and providing whatever information or help they need. Earlier, visitors moved around alone, now we are only streamlining it”. “We lost innocent lives in the incident. Families have been shattered. God knows when we can move on from such a tragedy.”

Near the hall where food is being served to visitors, villagers sit huddled in a meeting, to which outsiders are disallowed. —(PTI)