http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-18993905
26 July 2012 Last updated at 08:36 GMT
Police say dozens have died in
violence over the past week
At the heart of Assam's troubles is a debate over so-called "infiltration" by outsiders, which has led to ethnic tension between the state's indigenous population and Bengali migrants.
Changing demography, loss of land and livelihood and intensified competition for political power has added a deadly potency to the issue of who has a right to Assam.
'Infiltration' anger The migrants say they are mostly descended from East Bengali Muslims brought to Assam by the British to boost agricultural output by taming the "Chars" (river islands) - and that they are as Indian as the ethnic Assamese or the tribespeople in the state.
But the others do not accept that argument and groups representing them say more and more poor peasants from Bangladesh are flooding Assam, taking advantage of a porous riverine border.
The worst violence prompted by such tensions erupted during a controversial election in February 1983 - nearly 3,000 people were left dead in that episode.
The indigenous Assamese were joined by many local tribal groups in opposing the state assembly elections because they alleged that the electoral rolls were full of "infiltrators" - the expression locally used to describe illegal migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.
It came after four years of a determined campaign to drive out the migrants, hundreds of whom were killed in the village of Nellie in central Assam that February.
The hardline Assamese described the 1985 accord as a "betrayal" and decided to wage an armed campaign against India.
Twenty years later, a faction of the separatist United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) is negotiating with Delhi, asking for more concrete protection for indigenous populations against what they describe as "relentless illegal migration from across the border".
Groups representing Bodo, Rabha, Tiwa and other tribespeople support the Ulfa's call for stopping illegal migration and protecting the lands and livelihoods of the local populations.
Delhi has reportedly promised a replay of the 1985 Assam accord - disenfranchisement of the migrants who came between 1966 and 1971 for a period of 10 years, but not much more.
The latest clashes have affected four districts of western Assam, where the migrants - or their descendants from East Bengal (now Bangladesh) - are pitted against tribespeople such as the Bodos, Rabhas and Garos.
Bodo-Muslim tension In Kokrajhar, the Bodo heartland, Muslim migrants are regularly attacked by Bodo separatist rebels and this periodically erupts into full-scale riots.
More than 100 migrants were killed in one such raid at Bansbari, a makeshift camp for displaced Muslims in 1993.
The Bodos now have an autonomous territorial council which one of their parties, the Bodoland People's Front (BPF), controls. But many feel migrants have taken over much of the land they traditionally occupied.
The migrants and their descendants have also become more assertive with the formation of the Assam United Democratic Front which seeks to protect the rights of minorities and their periodic ousting from settlements through violence.
The Front, led by a charismatic religious leader Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, has increased its tally in the state legislature over the last two state elections.
In 2011, it emerged as the main opposition to Assam's ruling Congress party, winning three times the number of seats won by regional Assamese parties and the Hindu nationalist BJP.
Four years ago, different local tribes people and ethnic Assamese were involved in bitter rioting in the district of Darrang, in which the army had to be called out to stop the blood-letting.
Trouble in Assam is not simply a regional issue - the violence has also affected railway traffic between India's mainland and its north-eastern states because violence-torn Kokrajhar district sits in the "chicken neck", the strategically vital corridor that connects the north-east to the rest of the country.
Subir Bhaumik is an independent journalist and writer based in Calcutta
__________________________________________________________
Police say dozens have died in
violence over the past week
India's north-eastern state of Assam
is a veritable tinder-box. So why does it periodically erupt into violence and
blood-letting?
The latest bout has left about 40 dead and displaced tens of thousands. The
state remains tense as the army has been issued with "shoot on sight"
orders.At the heart of Assam's troubles is a debate over so-called "infiltration" by outsiders, which has led to ethnic tension between the state's indigenous population and Bengali migrants.
Changing demography, loss of land and livelihood and intensified competition for political power has added a deadly potency to the issue of who has a right to Assam.
'Infiltration' anger The migrants say they are mostly descended from East Bengali Muslims brought to Assam by the British to boost agricultural output by taming the "Chars" (river islands) - and that they are as Indian as the ethnic Assamese or the tribespeople in the state.
But the others do not accept that argument and groups representing them say more and more poor peasants from Bangladesh are flooding Assam, taking advantage of a porous riverine border.
The worst violence prompted by such tensions erupted during a controversial election in February 1983 - nearly 3,000 people were left dead in that episode.
The indigenous Assamese were joined by many local tribal groups in opposing the state assembly elections because they alleged that the electoral rolls were full of "infiltrators" - the expression locally used to describe illegal migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.
It came after four years of a determined campaign to drive out the migrants, hundreds of whom were killed in the village of Nellie in central Assam that February.
After the 1983 elections, India's federal government
tried to placate local sentiments by signing an accord with the All Assam
Students Union (AASU) in 1985 which was leading the campaign against the
migrants.
The accord promised to disenfranchise migrants who came after 1966 for a
period of 10 years, after which they would be included in electoral rolls. The hardline Assamese described the 1985 accord as a "betrayal" and decided to wage an armed campaign against India.
Twenty years later, a faction of the separatist United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) is negotiating with Delhi, asking for more concrete protection for indigenous populations against what they describe as "relentless illegal migration from across the border".
Groups representing Bodo, Rabha, Tiwa and other tribespeople support the Ulfa's call for stopping illegal migration and protecting the lands and livelihoods of the local populations.
Delhi has reportedly promised a replay of the 1985 Assam accord - disenfranchisement of the migrants who came between 1966 and 1971 for a period of 10 years, but not much more.
The latest clashes have affected four districts of western Assam, where the migrants - or their descendants from East Bengal (now Bangladesh) - are pitted against tribespeople such as the Bodos, Rabhas and Garos.
Bodo-Muslim tension In Kokrajhar, the Bodo heartland, Muslim migrants are regularly attacked by Bodo separatist rebels and this periodically erupts into full-scale riots.
More than 100 migrants were killed in one such raid at Bansbari, a makeshift camp for displaced Muslims in 1993.
The Bodos now have an autonomous territorial council which one of their parties, the Bodoland People's Front (BPF), controls. But many feel migrants have taken over much of the land they traditionally occupied.
The migrants and their descendants have also become more assertive with the formation of the Assam United Democratic Front which seeks to protect the rights of minorities and their periodic ousting from settlements through violence.
The Front, led by a charismatic religious leader Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, has increased its tally in the state legislature over the last two state elections.
In 2011, it emerged as the main opposition to Assam's ruling Congress party, winning three times the number of seats won by regional Assamese parties and the Hindu nationalist BJP.
Four years ago, different local tribes people and ethnic Assamese were involved in bitter rioting in the district of Darrang, in which the army had to be called out to stop the blood-letting.
Trouble in Assam is not simply a regional issue - the violence has also affected railway traffic between India's mainland and its north-eastern states because violence-torn Kokrajhar district sits in the "chicken neck", the strategically vital corridor that connects the north-east to the rest of the country.
Subir Bhaumik is an independent journalist and writer based in Calcutta
__________________________________________________________
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-19315546
How the Assam conflict creates a threat to all India
Hundreds of thousands of Muslims are marking the festival of
Eid inside heavily guarded relief camps in Assam
More than 300,000 refugees are in
relief camps in India's north-eastern Assam state after recent clashes between
indigenous tribals and Muslim settlers. And migrants from the north-east have
fled other Indian cities fearing reprisal attacks. The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder
reports from Assam, where the unrest began.
In an open field next to a railway track in Basugaon, Assam, several hundred
Muslims kneel in prayer to mark the end of Ramadan and the festival of Eid.This should have been a time for celebration. But many of the worshippers are visibly upset, some are crying.
The cleric raises his hands and prays for peace - for Assam and for India. Some in the congregation break down completely, their eyes streaming.
"What is there to celebrate?" asks Zia Ali Sheikh. "We have nothing left, nothing to give our children."
Desperate conditions These Bengali-speaking Muslims were forced out of their villages after an attack by the indigenous, predominantly Hindu Bodo tribe.
They are now staying in a temporary camp at the local school, in desperate conditions.
"Do you think I want to live here?" asks Zubina Bibi. "There's no proper food, we get wet in the rain. But where am I supposed to go?"
Trains carrying thousands of
north-east Indian migrants have been arriving in Assam A short drive brings me to Naorbitta village and it's immediately clear why the refugees are so insecure.
This was a thriving community, with 115 Muslim families. Now, all that remains of their homes are burnt out walls and rubble.
Inside one of the houses, there's a sense of a life that was suddenly, cruelly uprooted. A child's schoolbook, a shoe, toys and burnt clothes strewn amid the debris.
And just across the road, barely 50 metres away, are the homes of their Bodo neighbours, completely unscathed.
Ranjit Biswamutiary lives in one of the houses and tells me that an armed group attacked the homes one night and drove the Muslims away.
"It's sad because we've always lived in peace. But after all this trouble, I don't want them back."
Helpless The Bodos and Muslims have always lived together but this brutal cycle of violence has caused a rift which many believe may be irreversible. And neither side is holding back.
The Gambaribil relief camp is a mirror image of the one at Basugaon, except its inmates are Bodos.
This too has been set up in a school, although it's visibly cleaner and better equipped. Volunteers distribute clothes and medicines and the food is much better - soya bean and bubbling pots of lentils and rice.
But the stories are equally horrifying.
Most of Assam's Muslims have
lived in the area for generations "They attacked us one night with swords and knives."
He was able to get away with his mother. But his elderly father was trapped. Ronen could only watch helplessly as his father was stabbed and then tossed into the burning house.
The Bodos accuse the Muslims of being illegal migrants from Bangladesh, which is just south of here.
But political analyst Nilim Dutta says most of Assam's Muslims have lived here for generations.
"They first migrated here in the 19th century from Bengal when this was all part of colonial India.
"Over time, the Bengali migrants prospered, just like immigrant communities all over the world. This created a sense of resentment among the native Assamese communities as they both competed for resources and jobs."
Now the impact of this conflict is being felt right across India.
Trains carrying thousands of north-east Indian migrants have been arriving in Assam.
They're fleeing from some of India's biggest and riches cities amid rumours of attacks by Muslims in retaliation for the Assam violence.
"I was told that there were mobile phone text messages warning us to leave," said one young man who works as a security guard in Bangalore.
"My parents were so frightened after seeing all the television reports that they asked me to come back," says another.
But most of them say they will go back, eventually.
It's a sentiment that the Indian government hopes will be widely shared and help ease tensions.
A conflict once confined to a remote part of India has spread well beyond - partly because this is an age where information is easily and rapidly available.
If the violence goes unchecked, it could well threaten India's pluralism.
____________________________
24 July 2012 Last updated at 06:06 GMT
India's Assam issues 'shoot on sight' orders amid violence
Unidentified groups set houses,
schools, and vehicles ablaze
Security forces in India's Assam
state have been given "shoot on sight" orders amid violence that has killed at
least 21 people.
The move follows fierce fighting between indigenous tribespeople and Muslim
settlers in Kokrajhar and Chirang districts.More than 60,000 people have fled their homes for relief camps.
There have been tensions between indigenous groups and Muslim Bengali migrants to Assam for many years.
After the latest outbreak of violence, an indefinite curfew was imposed in the worst-affected Kokrajhar district.
"The situation is very tense. Both Bodos and Muslims are setting fire to each other's homes. People are fleeing homes as rumours of rioting are spreading. The paramilitary forces have had to fire to control mobs in some areas, and the army has also been deployed," Kokrajhar district commissioner Donald Gilfellan told the BBC.
Police say that the clashes began when unidentified men killed four youths on Friday night in Kokrajhar district, an area dominated by the Bodo tribe.
They say that armed Bodos attacked Muslims in retaliation, suspecting them to be behind the killings.
Soon afterwards unidentified groups set houses, schools, and vehicles ablaze, police said, firing indiscriminately from automatic weapons in populated areas.
______________________________
|
Tuesday, 30
June 2009 12:35 UK
|
Four 'hacked to death' in Assam | |||
Tribal guerrillas have hacked four members of a Hindi-speaking
migrant family to death in India's north-eastern state of Assam, police say.
The guerrillas broke into the house with guns and knives after encircling
Rangapahar village, 160km (99 miles) north of the state's capital Guwahati. Tuesday's attack is suspected of being carried out by one of Assam's many ethnic militant groups. However police say that none have so far claimed responsibility. Serial explosions "They hacked the man and his wife and two children to death," Assam police chief GM Srivastava said.
The NDFB has been negotiating with the Indian government for the last five years, but a hardline faction led by its former chairman Ranjan Daimary continues a separatist campaign - although he has been expelled from the organisation. Mr Daimary's supporters have been blamed for explosions in four towns in Assam on 30 October, in which 87 people were killed. He claims to lead the "real NDFB" and says that those negotiating with the government are "traitors". But the NDFB is not the only insurgent group to target Hindi-speaking migrants in Assam. The United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) - the state's strongest separatist group - and the Black Widow faction that fights for a separate homeland for Dimasa tribespeople has also been blamed for targeting migrants. The Ulfa, which has alleged that Hindi-speakers worked for Indian security forces, has asked many to leave the region or face "dire consequences". Last year 96 migrants were killed, mostly small traders or labourers working in farms or brick kilns. About 30 groups in the north-east have been fighting for decades for independence from India or for greater autonomy in a state that is sandwiched between China, Burma, Bhutan and Bangladesh and is only joined to the rest of India by a narrow 22km (13.6 miles) corridor. | |||
10 August 2012 Last updated at 04:16 GMT
Over 70 people have been killed
in the violence
Federal detectives are due to visit
violence-affected areas in India's Assam state, where 77 people have died.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will be probing whether there was
any "conspiracy" behind the violence. More than 300,000 people have fled their homes after fighting between indigenous Bodo tribes and Muslim settlers in Kokrajhar and Chirang.
There has been tension between indigenous groups and Muslim Bengali migrants in Assam for many years.
Federal Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the CBI - India's leading investigation agency - will "take over certain cases [of violence] where conspiracy seems to be involved for investigation".
Meanwhile senior Assam police official AP Rout told the state-run Doordarshan News that the situation in the violence-hit districts was "under control" and no fresh incidents had been reported.
The army is conducting peace marches in the affected areas, he said.
Police say that the clashes began last month when unidentified men killed four youths in Kokrajhar, an area dominated by the Bodo tribe.
They say that armed Bodos attacked Muslims in retaliation, suspecting they were behind the killings.
Soon afterwards unidentified groups set houses, schools and vehicles ablaze, police said, firing indiscriminately from automatic weapons in populated areas.
____________________________
18 August 2012
India blames Pakistan for exodus of migrant workers
Additional trains have been
provided to allow migrant workers to return to the north-east
Threatening messages sent by mobile
phone and over the internet that triggered an exodus of migrant workers from
southern Indian cities mostly came from Pakistan, Indian officials say.
Some 30,000 people have fled the cities of Bangalore and Mumbai in recent
days. They come from indiginous communities in the far north-eastern state of Assam, where there has been fighting with Muslim communities.
The messages threatened revenge attacks against them by Muslims.
"The bulk of these messages, of these clips, have their origin in our western neighbour, in Pakistan," Indian Home Secretary RK Singh said.
"That's what our agencies have discovered - that the bulk of these have been uploaded in various websites in Pakistan."
He said India would protest to Pakistan but gave no further details about who may have sent the messages or posted the images.
There has been no official reaction from Pakistan.
Harmony On Friday, the Indian government imposed a ban on bulk text messages to try to stop the panic.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said those who were fanning the rumours should be punished, saying "communal harmony" was at stake.
"It is the solemn obligation of all of us, regardless of the party that he may belong to, to work together to create an atmosphere when this rumour-mongering will come to an end, that the people of the north-eastern states feel genuinely that any part of our country welcomes them," he told parliament on Friday.
There are 250,000 people from the north-east living and working in Bangalore, which is often referred to as the Silicon Valley of India.
Many of them are students, security guards and workers in the hospitality sector who have migrated to the southern cities in search of better jobs and education.
Extra trains have been provided to allow them to return home.
________________________
20 August
2012
Officials have blamed the exodus on "rumour mongering" linked to clashes in the north-eastern Assam state.
More than 300,000 people fled after fighting between indigenous Bodo tribes and Muslim settlers in Assam.
Last week's exodus of workers from north-eastern region living in Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai was triggered off by messages threatening revenge attacks against them by Muslims.
Over the weekend, India said the bulk of these messages and video clips had their origin in Pakistan.
India's Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik to crack down on "elements" who were sending the messages.
"We have no information about this. I requested him [Mr Shinde] to provide evidence in this regard to us and we will take care of it," Mr Rehman told reporters in Islamabad.
On Friday, the Indian government imposed a ban on bulk text messages to try to stop the panic.
At least 78 people have died in clashes between Bodo tribes and Muslims in Assam.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said those who were fanning the rumours should be punished, saying "communal harmony" was at stake.
There are 250,000 people from the north-east living and working in Bangalore, which is often referred to as the Silicon Valley of India.
Many of them are students, security guards and workers in the hospitality sector who have migrated to the southern cities in search of better jobs and education.
_______________________
Pakistan seeks proof of India exodus messages
Additional trains have been
provided to allow migrant workers to return to the north-east
Pakistan has asked India to provide
evidence for its claims that threatening messages sent by mobile phone and over
the web to migrant workers mostly came from Pakistan.
Thousands of people fled the cities of Bangalore and Pune in recent days.Officials have blamed the exodus on "rumour mongering" linked to clashes in the north-eastern Assam state.
More than 300,000 people fled after fighting between indigenous Bodo tribes and Muslim settlers in Assam.
Last week's exodus of workers from north-eastern region living in Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai was triggered off by messages threatening revenge attacks against them by Muslims.
Over the weekend, India said the bulk of these messages and video clips had their origin in Pakistan.
India's Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik to crack down on "elements" who were sending the messages.
"We have no information about this. I requested him [Mr Shinde] to provide evidence in this regard to us and we will take care of it," Mr Rehman told reporters in Islamabad.
On Friday, the Indian government imposed a ban on bulk text messages to try to stop the panic.
At least 78 people have died in clashes between Bodo tribes and Muslims in Assam.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said those who were fanning the rumours should be punished, saying "communal harmony" was at stake.
There are 250,000 people from the north-east living and working in Bangalore, which is often referred to as the Silicon Valley of India.
Many of them are students, security guards and workers in the hospitality sector who have migrated to the southern cities in search of better jobs and education.
_______________________
No comments:
Post a Comment