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Violence engulfs Assam, Manmohan tells CM to monitor situation
Jul 24, 2012, 05.55PM IST
GUWAHATI/NEW DELHI: The death toll in the ongoing ethnic clash between Bodo and Bengali speaking Muslims in the Bodo heartland in Kokrajhar district since Friday, rose to 25 as additional central paramilitary forces from different parts of the country are on their way to the troubled area.
Over 50, 000 people belonging to both the communities have been affected in the spate of violence so far. The population of Bodos, the largest tribal group among the 23 notified scheduled tribes, is just over five per cent of the total population of the state while Muslims constitute nearly 33 per cent.
Eighteen companies of paramilitary forces have so far been deployed in Kokrajhar and Chirang districts. Bodoland Territorial Council inspector general of police, SN Singh said that indefinite curfew has been imposed in the twin districts to pre-empt further escalation of violence. Singh said that shoot-at-site order has also been issued.
State government spokesman and agriculture minister Nilamani Sen Deka, who is at Kokrajhar, said, "There are no reports of any escalation of violence except some incidents of burning of abandoned villages by miscreants."
The Northeast Frontier Railway authorities have cancelled 11 trains to Howrah, New Delhi, Mumbai and southern states, including the Rajdhani Express, all of which pass through Kokrajhar.
Located at the western end of Assam and bordering West Bengal on its west and Bhutan on north, Kokrajhar district is the cauldron of simmering communal mistrust leading to hatred in Assam's western territory that is boiling again.
Four ethnic clashes in 60 years involving the Bodos, the first human race in this part of the country, Bengali speaking Muslims and Adivasis have all been borne out of mistrust among the communities.
"All the clashes have the same characteristics. The mistrust is so high that just a small spark is enough to create an inferno," a top official Assam Police said. He added, "People are rendered homeless in every such clash, but we have seen that these people return to their land, even after 10 years of living in relief camps."
It was in 1952 when Bodos first clashed with Muslims. In 1993 and 1994 Bodos clashed again with Muslims after the Bodo Accord which gave autonomy to Bodos. The clash was termed as "ethnic cleansing" by the then state government.
More than 100 people were killed and at least 60,000 from both the communities were rendered homeless. As the accord of 1993 failed, Bodos resumed their struggle for identity and turned so fierce that Santhals were mercilessly killed in two back-to-back clashes in 1996 and 1998. Over 300 people were killed and more than three lakh people made homeless at the time. The last time Bodos clashed with Muslims was in 2008.
Violence engulfs Assam, Manmohan tells CM to monitor situation - The Times of India
Jul 24, 2012, 05.55PM IST
GUWAHATI/NEW DELHI: The death toll in the ongoing ethnic clash between Bodo and Bengali speaking Muslims in the Bodo heartland in Kokrajhar district since Friday, rose to 25 as additional central paramilitary forces from different parts of the country are on their way to the troubled area.
Over 50, 000 people belonging to both the communities have been affected in the spate of violence so far. The population of Bodos, the largest tribal group among the 23 notified scheduled tribes, is just over five per cent of the total population of the state while Muslims constitute nearly 33 per cent.
Eighteen companies of paramilitary forces have so far been deployed in Kokrajhar and Chirang districts. Bodoland Territorial Council inspector general of police, SN Singh said that indefinite curfew has been imposed in the twin districts to pre-empt further escalation of violence. Singh said that shoot-at-site order has also been issued.
State government spokesman and agriculture minister Nilamani Sen Deka, who is at Kokrajhar, said, "There are no reports of any escalation of violence except some incidents of burning of abandoned villages by miscreants."
The Northeast Frontier Railway authorities have cancelled 11 trains to Howrah, New Delhi, Mumbai and southern states, including the Rajdhani Express, all of which pass through Kokrajhar.
Located at the western end of Assam and bordering West Bengal on its west and Bhutan on north, Kokrajhar district is the cauldron of simmering communal mistrust leading to hatred in Assam's western territory that is boiling again.
Four ethnic clashes in 60 years involving the Bodos, the first human race in this part of the country, Bengali speaking Muslims and Adivasis have all been borne out of mistrust among the communities.
"All the clashes have the same characteristics. The mistrust is so high that just a small spark is enough to create an inferno," a top official Assam Police said. He added, "People are rendered homeless in every such clash, but we have seen that these people return to their land, even after 10 years of living in relief camps."
It was in 1952 when Bodos first clashed with Muslims. In 1993 and 1994 Bodos clashed again with Muslims after the Bodo Accord which gave autonomy to Bodos. The clash was termed as "ethnic cleansing" by the then state government.
More than 100 people were killed and at least 60,000 from both the communities were rendered homeless. As the accord of 1993 failed, Bodos resumed their struggle for identity and turned so fierce that Santhals were mercilessly killed in two back-to-back clashes in 1996 and 1998. Over 300 people were killed and more than three lakh people made homeless at the time. The last time Bodos clashed with Muslims was in 2008.
Violence engulfs Assam, Manmohan tells CM to monitor situation - The Times of India
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