By TwoCircles.net staff reporter,
Guwahati: After National Democratic Front of Bodoland’s (NDFB) (Sangbijit faction) denial in the involvement in the violence in the Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD), a section of people set their target towards Bodoland People’s Party (BPF). Assam minister for Border areas development Siddique Ahmed has already demanded that action should be taken against BPF.
“Now, even NDFB has denied its involvement. When I talked with the people in the village everybody has suspected that it was the involvement of BPF in the killings. The state government should take action against it,” Ahmed told media on Saturday.
CPI (M) demands immediate action to stop the killing in the BTAD area in a rally in Guwahati.
In a statement released to media, NDFB (S) said that the outfit is not involved in the act of killings in the BTAD and it has slammed the state government and police for the same.
He also demanded that BPF which is in alliance with the Congress in the state should be separated from the government. He also demanded the arrest of Pramila Rani Brahma, a MLA of BPF for making communal statement. Brahma had said that the Muslims have not voted for BPF during the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.
All Bodoland Minority Students’ Union (ABMSU), a students’ body has also accused the BPF for killing the innocent people which included children and women. The toll so far has reached to 32. More than 70 houses were also burnt near the Manas national Park in Baksa district.
Police also arrested one forest official Amiya Kumar Brahma for helping some armed militants in killing the people after the villagers have mentioned his name in the FIRs. Besides, police also detained 22 persons for interrogation.
Meanwhile, people from various walks of life have demanded that all illegal arms should be seized. Terming it a political massacre, they also appealed the people not to give it a communal colour.
Assam governor JB Patnaik has asked the state government to seize the illegal arms in the BTAD region. The governor has said that house to house search should be made to bring an end to this problem.
“The arms which are available in the BTAD area have led to these killings. This is a very unfortunate incident and we condemn it. We have been appealing the state government for seizure of all the illegal arms at the earliest but there is no action from the authority,” said Aditya Khaklari, general secretary of All Assam Tribal Sangha (AATS).
He also slammed the role of the central government in dealing the insurgency problem in the state. “The centre has failed in solving the insurgency problem. That is the reason why the people of the state are suffering like this,” Khaklari added.
Guwahati Sanmilita Nagarik Adhikar Suraksha Mancha, a citizens’ forum which organized the meet also demanded a top level judicial inquiry so that the government cannot influence.
Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury, senior advocate and state president of Samajwadi party also said that the arms available in the BTAD should be seized. “Arms are the main problem. It is well aware of the availability of the arms but the state government did nothing. We demand that the arms should be seized as soon as possible,” Ahmed Choudhury said.
He also appealed the people to be careful so that the violence does not turn into a communal one. “We would like to appeal to the people as a whole that this is not a communal violence but it’s a political one. The people are being killed for political reasons. The leaders and public representatives should also be careful from making statements which can ignite communal sentiments,” he added.
The citizens’ meet has also decided to visit the affected areas in their effort to bring peace. Udayaditya Bharali, former principal of Cotton College said that the illegal arms which are now available are a threat to democracy.
“This is an extreme thing to happen in democracy when political parties accuse each other of possessing illegal arms. Everybody knows about it but the government is not doing anything in this regard,” Bharali said.
Noted intellectual Hiren Gohain addressing a citizens meet in Guwahati which demands that all the illegal arms should be seized in BTAD.
Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has expressed that more such violent incidents can take place after May 16, the counting day of Lok Sabha polls in the state especially in the Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD). Condemning the ongoing killings by armed militants, AGP said that the state government has failed to counter the situation.
“We suspect there might be more such incidents of violence in the coming days especially after May 16. If the government had taken prior precautions, these killings would not have taken place,” AGP president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta told reporters on Saturday.
However, the official number of licensed arms in the region is much lower than in other parts of the state with only 1,301 weapons in the four districts of Chirang, Baksa, Kokrajhar and Udalguri. Chirang and Baksa have the lowest number of licenced arms with just 123 and 140 weapons, respectively. Kokrajhar and Udalguri have 737 and 301 registered arms, respectively.
A senior police official said that more than 100 illegal arms have been seized from BTAD area during the time election. He also said that since January this year 42 militants of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Sangbijit faction) have laid down their arms while 18 others have been killed in encounters by police and army.
According to sources at the present there are around 200 members of NDFB (S) are active in the BTAD.
Several organizations also carried out protest rallies in the state.