Authorities in the Paniai district of Papua have imposed a curfew after a police officer was shot and killed this week, bringing a fresh wave of violence in the resource-rich province.
“We have imposed a curfew from 6 p.m. until early in the morning. We feel there is potential for violence at those hours so we advise people not to leave their homes,” Paniai district police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Anton Diance said on Thursday.
“We are not forbidding people to go out at those hours, but it is advised that they stay at home if they don’t have real emergencies because it is risky.”
A separatist group, the Free Papua Organization (OPM), has claimed responsibility for the shooting of Police Brig. Yohan Kisiwaito.
Yohan, 29, was shot at the Enarotali Airport on Tuesday morning as he was washing a car at the end of the runway. He died several hours later in hospital.
Anton said police were tracking down the shooter, who escaped in a speed boat on Paniai Lake.
Pro-independence activists in Paniai on Wednesday reported that police responded by raiding people’s home and arbitrarily arresting innocent civilians. At least five homes were torched by police officers, the activists claimed, and at least 15 civilians were tortured.
Anton denied the allegations.
“There was no torture, no torching. Police are in pursuit [of the suspects] according to procedures,” the officer said.
Police are pursuing a band of rebels operating in the district led by OPM leader John Yogi, but Anton added that his office had limited manpower.
“This precinct is overseeing three districts: Intan Jaya, Paniai and Deiyai with six sub-precincts. Our entire force is just 270, so we are very understaffed,” he said.
Yogi’s band of rebels, he claimed, was also expanding its territory into the two other districts.
“They are now everywhere, spreading their reign of terror. They often extort a number of gold panning operations,” the officer said.
Intan Jaya and Deiyai are breakaway districts of Paniai.
This incident adds to the list of attacks by unidentified gunmen in the restive district, which has seen an influx of violence after police stormed an OPM hideout at Eduda Hill in December.
The raid was carried out by the police’s special tactical unit, the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) from Jakarta, and killed 14 guerilla fighters.
But that reportedly sparked the OPM to retaliate, particularly after 481 Brimob officers were withdrawn from Papua in January.
Last month, three people were found stabbed to death in Ndeotadi, Paniai district of Papua, including a member of the Armed Forces (TNI).
In a statement, the OPM said that police only had themselves to blame, saying that their presence had led to ongoing repression and rampant violence targeted at innocent civilians.
In May, Brimob officers shot five locals at a Ndeotadi billiard hall after an alleged altercation, killing two. The incident was never investigated.
Coordinating Minister for Security and Legal Affairs Djoko Suyanto said police would not tolerate the ongoing violence launched by suspected rebels in Papua.
“If we have not arrested [the rebels], that means we are still pursuing them,” he said. “It is not easy to locate these criminals although they are the same people wearing the same disguises.”
Only one shooting case has been solved so far. It involved the death of a German tourist.