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Assam : Bodo extremists kill 13, setback to peace talks |
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In Assam, Bodo extremists owing allegiance to the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), intensified their violent activities against non-Bodos and its rival faction, the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) which is engaged in the peace process with the Union Government for solving the Bodo tangle.
NDFB insurgents on January 15 gunned down 13 non-Bodos in two remote hamlets falling in Bongaigaon district. The mid-night killings, according to police sources, took place at Sikajhar and Deolangjhar, close to the Indo-Bhutan border.
Observers who are closely monitoring the developments in the North East feel the NDFB Jan. 15 act indicates either resumption of its violent ethnic cleansing or a bid to further divide the Bodos and the non-Bodos to jeopardise the process of creating a Bodo Territorial Council (BTC). The NDFB had earlier served Quit notices to the non-Bodos living in the area as part of its “ethnic cleansing” drive.
According to reports, the NDFB has also been under pressure to make its presence felt as its opponent, the BLT, was close to striking a deal with the Union Government for the creation of the BTC.
The BLT and the NDFB have targeted each other’s members over the years and are the fiercest opponents with both maintaining well-demarcated territories of their operation in the Bodo-dominated areas. The NDFB considers the BLT a “puppet” of the Union Government. Last week’s incident, according to observers, will only strengthen the case of the organizations opposing the creation of the BTC, expected to be the final result of the ongoing talks between the Centre and the BLT. The NDFB is opposed to the creation of the council as it believes that such a development will render its armed struggle for a “sovereign” Bodoland” redundant.
Altogether, 21 non-Bodo organizations under the banner of the Sammilita Janagosthiya Sangram Samiti (SJSS), have been claiming that the creation of the BTC will turn them into “second class” citizens and thus “give the Bodos the opportunity to begin oppression on them.
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