The Hindu : National : Central team visits Assam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 14, 2007
ePaper

National

National

Central team visits Assam

Sushanta Talukdar

Banner organisations, opposition parties call for 12-hour Assam bandh today

— PHOTO: RITU RAJ KONWAR

SEEKING JUSTICE: Children form part of a rally organised by the CPI(ML) in Guwahati on Monday to protest against the recent killing of Hindi-speaking people by militants in Karbi Anglong district.

Guwahati: A high-level team of the Ministry of Home Affairs arrived here on a day’s visit to take stock of the situation in the wake of the killing of Hindi-speaking people in central Assam’s Karbi Anglong district on Monday.

The visit also comes a day ahead of a 12-hour Assam bandh called by banner organisations, Hindi-speaking people and opposition parties.

The MHA team that included Director Generals of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the CRPF called on Chief Minster Tarun Gogoi and discussed the measures taken by the State Government to deal with the situation in Karbi Anglong.

The death toll of those killed in militant attacks in the district since August 8 has gone up to 28 with the recovery of two bodies on Sunday. They were identified to be that of Hindi-speaking traders Nunu Satnami(40) and Suraj Sahani (26).

They were abducted on August 1 by suspected Karbi Llongri National Liberation Front (KLNLF) militants.

Police shot dead two suspected KLNLF militants and recovered explosives and a pistol near Mauzadar Basti under the Bokajan police station of the district on Monday, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Central Range) L.R. Bisnoi said.

Although there was no report of any fresh attack on Hindi-speaking people either from the hill district or other parts of the State, the Purvottar Hindustani Samaj— a banner organisation of Hindi-speaking people — demanded that the administration of Karbi Anglong be handed over to the Army. It insisted that the Army be given a free hand in Karbi Anglong to tackle the situation.

Demand compensation

Appealing to people to make the bandh a success, the organisation appealed to all Hindi-speaking legislators to quit from the Assembly to protest the killing and the Government’s “failure” to protect the Hindi-speaking people.

They demanded a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh to the next of kin of each of the deceased and a government job to at least one member of each affected family.

The organisation has decided to stage a fast-unto-death in front of the Janata Bhavan from August 16 till the Government ensured security to the lives and property of the Hindi-speaking people, its working president Y.L. Karna said.

If the Hindi-speaking legislators failed to respond to their appeal, the organisation would undertake programmes such as gheraoing them.

Apart from the Purvottar Hindustani Samaj and other Hindi-speaking organisations, 12 political parties that included the Prafulla Kumar Mahanta-led Asom Gana Parishad (Progressive), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF), the CPI(ML), the Purbanchaliya Loka Parishad (PLP) have issued a joint call to observe a 12-hour bandh on Tuesday.

CPI(M) activists took out a protest march in the city demanding an end to the mindless violence against innocent Hindi-speaking people and other unarmed civilians.

The party urged people to make the bandh a success.

The two major Opposition parties, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party, have demanded the resignation of Mr. Tarun Gogoi for the Government’s “failure” to protect the lives and property of citizens and deterioration of law and order.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National