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North East : ULFA intensifies acts of terrorism against Hindi-speaking people

	August 13, 2007

Govt. offers conditional release of its jailed leaders



Come Independence Day, ULFA, the major militant outfit in Assam, intensified its acts of terrorism last week killing over 30 Hindi-speaking people and wounding nearly 40 in bomb explo¬sions, while the state Government again extended its conditional offer to release its five jailed leaders if the outfit agrees to join direct parleys with the Centre to find a solution to its demands.



ULFA and anti-talks Karbi militants continued their terror run in Karbi Anglong district, with a total of 14 Hindi-speaking people being slaughtered in attacks at three separate places - not far from each other on August 11 night.



Six persons, including a three-month-old baby, were mas¬sacred at a remote village in the district. Militants had earli¬er on August 9 gunned down eight Hindi-speaking people at Dola¬mora under Bokajan police station in the district.



A joint team of militants from the Karbi Longri NC Hills Liberation Front and ULFA were responsible for the attacks. Karbi Anglong SP Anurag Tankha said a 12-member gang was behind the massacre. He said the district administration has sought three more CRPF battalions to aid the two already operating in Karbi Anglong. Deputy Commissioner M. Angamuthu said security forces have launched operations to apprehend the culprits.



Shocked and furious over Dispur’s failure to protect the lives of the people of the community, the Sadou Asom Bhojpuri Yuba Chatra Parishad and Sodou Asom Bihari Yuba Manch called a 12-hour statewide bandh on August 12 in protest against the killings.



Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who went to Aampahar on August 11, condemned the killing of “innocent and defenceless people” and appealed to the Hindi-speaking population in Karbi Anglong to stay together in settlements rather than at scattered locations.



Gogoi announced an ex-gratia of Rs 3 lakh each for the next of kin of those slain. Assam Governor Lt Gen. (Retd) Ajai Singh also condemned the killings.





Hindi-speaking community at Delhi door for succour



Assam’s Hindi-speaking population has sought the Centre’s intervention to bring about an end to militant attacks on the community. Members of the community decided to undertake a march to New Delhi to make the government understand their plight. Several organisations have also blamed Dispur for its failure to protect the lives of innocent people in Assam.



The Purbottar Hindustani Sanmilan - the largest organisation of the community - on August 11 also met leaders of the Asom Sahitya Sabha and the All Assam Students Union, seeking their support at this time of distress.



The working president of the forum, Y.L. Karan, said a delegation would visit New Delhi soon to apprise the Centre about the prevailing situation in Assam and the feeling of insecurity among the common people.



“The Assam government had promised us security earlier but it has failed us miserably. We have totally lost faith in Dispur,” said Parshuram Dubey, general secretary of the All Assam Bhojpuri Yuva Chhatra Parishad.



Giving details of the attacks on Hindi-speaking people in Assam since the beginning of this year, the organisation said Assam has become a hotbed of militant outfits. “Ulfa has brutally killed at least 171 Hindi-speaking people and injured 178 in a series of bomb blasts and shootouts,” the statement asserted.





Gogoi taps ULFA again



The Congress-led government in Assam has again kept the hope of talks with ULFA alive by reiterating that it would re¬lease five jailed ULFA leaders, as demanded by the outfit, if it agrees to direct parleys with the government.



Chief minister Tarun Gogoi said in Guwahati on August 9 that the state government’s door was always open for talks despite the negative attitude of the outfit, which had been “indulging in cowardly acts by killing innocent people”.



Gogoi was participating in a discussion on the law and order situation in the state Assembly on August 9.



“It was I who had always insisted on finding a political solution to the vexed problem. The Centre, from the very begin¬ning, was skeptical about the outfit’s sincerity regarding the talks, but I had persuaded it to give it a try. Even today, if ULFA agrees to direct talks, we will release the five jailed leaders,” he said.



Initiating the discussion, leader of the Opposition Brinda¬ban Goswami said the law and order situation had deteriorated to such an extent that people were scared to venture into crowded marketplaces in the evenings. He claimed that the situation would remain the same till the government takes an initiative to hammer out a political solution to the ULFA problem.



Gogoi said his government was ready to do everything possi¬ble for the talks, but at the same time it would not tolerate any act of violence. “A strong message should go out from this House that we are opposed to any kind of terrorism,” he said.



The chief minister was also of the view that ULFA’s strength had been significantly curtailed, which was forcing the outfit to attack soft targets. He said the outfit has now adopted a new strategy, as part of which it planted bombs at innocuous spots, targeting innocent civilians and avoiding a direct confrontation with the security forces.





AASU raises migrant influx, plans rerun of eighties tumult



The All Assam Students’ Union is planning to reinvent the movement that led to the historic 1985 accord and gave birth to the state’s largest regional party, the Asom Gana Parishad, but failed to achieve its basic aim - rid Assam of illegal migrants.

Samujjal Bhattacharyya, adviser to the AASU, told the media in Silchar on Aug. 10 that his organisation would resume the mass movement in March next year if the influx of illegal migrants continued.



He accused both Delhi and the state government of “not being serious enough” in identifying those who settled in Assam after 1971 and deport them.



“Thousands of Bangladeshis are crossing the border regular¬ly, year after year,” he said.