By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS
Dolamara (Assam) : The exodus of Hindi-speaking traders from parts of Assam’s Karbi Anglong district has led to an acute shortage of essentials, with local Karbi tribals now facing the after effects of the violence.
Schoolteacher K. Timung is a worried man – the weekly bazaar every Saturday at village Dolamara, 275 km east of Assam’s main city Guwahati, has remained closed for the last three weeks.
“The Dolamara bazaar was the only place in the area where we do our weekly shopping with commodities ranging from rice and pulses, baby food, mustard oil, salt and other essentials,” Timung told IANS.
There are an estimated 2,500 locals in the area that depended on essentials from the Dolamara weekly market.
“Now the bazaar is closed as all the traders who were Biharis have fled after the violent attacks on them,” Timung said in a voice filled with remorse.
The eastern Karbi Anglong district witnessed a string of brutal attacks in the run up to Independence Day where close to 30 Hindi-speaking people were killed by the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KLNLF).
Like Dolamara, the weekly markets in the adjoining areas of Bandarchak and Deithor have also remained closed since the violence.
“There is a severe shortage of food and other essentials. Hundreds of people like us depended on the weekly markets and small grocery shops run by Biharis and Marwaris for food. Now not a single shop is open,” lamented Krising Bey, a community elder.
Hundreds of Hindi-speaking traders have fled the area after the attacks. Some of them have left the state while others are reportedly trying to buy time for normalcy to return.
“We cannot risk our lives by returning to our workplace. Maybe the militants will come and attack us if we open our shops now,” Hari Prasad Chauhan, a grocer in the districts Bokajan area, said.
Chauhan and his family are now sheltered in a relative’s home in the adjoining town of Golaghat.
The attacks have led to growing mistrust between the local Karbis and the Hindi-speakers.
“There is a market in nearby Behora area from where we can do our shopping. But people are scared to go there fearing retaliation by Hindi-speaking people,” said Horsing Teron, a Karbi villager.
Authorities were trying to instil confidence among the Hindi-speaking people to return to their workplaces.
“We have deployed security forces in strength in several vulnerable areas and there should be no trouble again,” a senior police official said.
The attacks are reminiscent of the wave of killings by ULFA in January targeting Hindi-speakers in which about 60 people were killed.
In 2000, ULFA militants killed at least 100 Hindi speaking people in Assam in a series of well-planned attacks after the group vowed to free the state of all ‘non-Assamese migrant workers’.
“It is poor people like us who are suffering because of the violence. We don’t have any animosity with the Hindi-speaking traders who have been with us for decades,” said Mala Timungpi, a housewife.