By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Guwahati:A team of the National Commission for Minorities headed by Chairman, Naseem Ahmad and other members of the Commission met Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to discuss the aftermath of the situation in Bodoland Territorial Areas District on Monday.
The Chairman of the Commission Ahmad appreciated the efforts made by the state government to bring back normalcy inthe affected areas. The Commission also expressed satisfaction over the relief and rehabilitation measures taken by the State Government to help the affected families.
“The confidence building measures should be given focus to help bring back normalcy. The issues of shelter and rehabilitation of orphaned children, education of the children of the affected areas, special psychological counselling to help the victims to come out of their trauma, NCC training for school children are some of the important issues which should be given focus at the moment,” Ahmed said after meeting CM Gogoi.
The members of the Commission and the representatives of the State Government were unanimous in their opinion that the civil society has to play a major role in restoring lasting peace and normalcy. They also agreed on the necessity of better coordination with the neighbouring countries like Bhutan to tackle the insurgency-related issues and to take up the matter with Government of India.
The Commission pointed out the need of more police pickets in the vulnerable areas to which the Chief Minister responded that the Government has already decided to establish more police
stations, pickets/outposts etc in these areas.
Both the sides agreed that additional forces should be deployed in addition to the existing ones to prevent recurrence of such incidents in near future. Meanwhile, the State Government has already
moved the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for deployment of additional forces to reinforce security in the affected areas. The Commission said that it would also take up the matter with the MHA.
The members of the Commission suggested setting up of fast track courts for speedy disposal of
violence-related cases. Chief Minister Gogoi while agreeing to the suggestion told the Commission that the Government would leave no stone unturned to bring the culprits to book. “The State Government has already entrusted NIA to probe into the violence, besides taking the decision to institute a judicial inquiry to unearth the truth,” he added.
Besides the Chairman, the members of the Commission present in the meeting included TN Shanoo, Prof. Farida Abdulla Khan and Praveen Davar, besides Secretary of the Commission Surajit Choudhury. The State Government was represented by Chief Secretary, Jitesh Khosla, Principal Secretaries to CM, MGVK Bhanu and Jishnu Barua, Commissioner & Secretary,
Home, GD Tripathi and Commissioner & Secretary, Minorities Welfare & Development, BR Samal.