‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth’ mentality slammed

By JAMES APA GUMUNO
THOSE responsible for the killings and destruction to properties in Mt Hagen will be identified and brought to justice.
These were the tough words of Deputy Police Commissioner Jeffery Vaki, who addressed settlers yesterday at the Kimininga police barracks in Mt Hagen.
Mr Vaki told hundreds of displaced settlers, now seeking refuge at the police gymnasium, that police needed their assistance to bring to justice those people who instigated the violent clash.
He told the people to give police their statements on what they actually saw on Sunday morning in the city.
He said a special task force comprising Criminal Investigation Division officers had been appointed to investigate the incident.
Mr Vaki said police would make sure that high powered guns used by the locals against the settlers are surrendred to police.
He also told the settlers that those willing to return to their home provinces should do so.
Mr Vaki told the displaced settlers they could not continue to live in the gymnasium because it was unhygienic due to lack of water supply, toilets and other facilities.
He added the settlers would be risking their lives living in the gymnasium.
Police would man roadblocks in the city to ensure firearms were not brought in or out of the city.
Mr Vaki said the city was not a place for the people to carry offensive weapons around and appealed to leaders in the province and learned people to educate their folks and disarm them.
He said the “eye for eye and tooth for tooth” mentality among the highlanders must be changed, and people must learn to respect one another.
He said that if educated highlanders and their elected leaders could not change the mindset of their people in the villages, then the Highlands region could head for disaster in the near future.
The settlers were disappointed when they heard that Police Commissioner Gari Baki was visiting the Baiyer district yesterday with Minister for Internal Security Sani Rambi and could not address them.
Mr Vaki passed on Mr Baki’s apologies.