The Indian Security Forces (ISF) recently ambushed a convoy of suspected ‘insurgents’ in the far eastern province of Nagaland, however, the convoy of ‘insurgents’ turned out to be a convoy of miners that were returning to their homes. 13 Miners were killed during the blunder of an ambush, and civilians began to protest and fight with the ISF after the ambush’s blunder was brought to public light. The Indian Army claimed that the soldiers were acting on “credible” intelligence reports about insurgent movements, with insurgents regularly crossing the Indian border into Myanmar after attacking ISF soldiers. Many civilians were outraged in Nagaland after the ambush took place, with widespread protests and riots taking place in which 5 protestors were killed by Indian forces. Indian Security Forces in Nagaland have been well known to exercise and stretch their power within the legal confines of the Indian constitution. The ISF commonly utilizes many controversial unsolved loopholes within the Indian legal code that allowed them to conduct these types of ambush attacks against Insurgents attempting to cross over the Myanmar border to escape Indian authorities post attacks.

Indian Security Forces personnel in formation (IndiaToday) 

Civilians in Nagaland have had a long-running feeling of Independence from the rest of India. Nagaland is only connected to India via a 24 KM Border between the countries of Bangladesh and Bhutan. Many locals still call for independence from the country to this day, however, in recent years, attempts have been made to mend relations between the locals and central government in New Delhi. On the topic of the recent ambush, many locals were enraged and joined rioters already present in the site around the failed ambush. Insurgency within the Nagaland province had been slowing down and decreasing in recent years, after the Indian government began integration policies towards the far Eastern sections of the country of India. A Helicopter crash that occurred a few days after the ambush also killed the head general of the Indian Armed Forces, along with 13 other Senior Indian military officials, which leaves the ISF currently in a hard position to continue attempting to amend relations with civilians in Nagaland and other far Eastern Indian provinces.