By TwoCircles.net Special Correspondent
Guwahati: It’s been six days now since the ethnic clashes began in Bodoland Territorial Administered Districts ( BTAD). According to the estimates, about 2 lakh 30 thousand people took refuge at ‘shelter camps’ to save their lives.
As of today, nearly 250 makeshift shelter camps have come up in this area. Food and essential life saving relief material has not reached many of these camps and children deaths are reported.
It is reported that 172 villages has been torched and 44 killed as per official record. Unofficial records quoted 150 deaths and many more missing.
Hasina (name changed) was observing Ramadan and the very first day of ramzan she had to run away for safety. She along with her family reached a school campus where hundreds gathered for safety. No security was provided to the school campus and so the group decided to go back to their native places and stay in groups for protection. Later, Hasina informed that she went back to a shelter camp and she came to know that her village has been completely burnt down.
An eye witness in Kokrajhar informed that several people gathered near Hekaipara mass grave and requested SP to send security forces. SP assured to send security forces to the location mentioned but it was too late. Security forces reached after 3 hours and by that time four persons were already killed by the armed miscreants. Inhabitants of Hekaipara were later shifted to shelter camps by loading in trucks. Once the inhabitants left the village, their houses were looted and then torched.
Dead bodies were collected after 48 hours.
Fear and trauma spread among the minority population. ‘Administration has no control over the situation and there is no security at all’, said an eye witness.