Cops blame Ulfa (I) for Tinsukia attack; parties call bandh today

  • | Saturday | 3rd November, 2018

Farmer leader Akhil Gogoi demanded a judicial inquiry into the killings and sought Dev's arrest.The 12-hour bandh in Tinsukia district called by Bengali groups on Friday was successful. The five bodies were laid out in the front yard of the house of Shyamal Biswas, who was killed along with two nephews. "Dev was warned twice for his communal statements at a time of uproar over citizenship." Ulfa (I) are known to possess these weapons.Police said the outfit took advantage of tension between Assamese and Bengali-speaking people over the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. They finally allowed the remains to be taken for autopsy after some ministers and police brass spoke to them.Assam Police have said Ulfa (I) militants carried out the killings.

DIBRUGARH/JORHAT/GUWAHATI: Anger twinned anxiety on Friday in Kherbari village of Tinsukia district the day after five people were targeted and killed by at least six men in olive fatigues who police have now confirmed were Ulfa (Independent) militants.Kherbari village has a mix of Bengali, Assamese and Nepali populations who lived in harmony till Thursday's assault that broke that peace for the first time.On Friday, families of the five victims, all Bengali speakers, refused to hand over the bodies to police for post-mortem. The five bodies were laid out in the front yard of the house of Shyamal Biswas, who was killed along with two nephews. They finally allowed the remains to be taken for autopsy after some ministers and police brass spoke to them.Assam Police have said Ulfa (I) militants carried out the killings. The outfit had denied its role but bolstering the police's claim are 30 spent cartridges of AK-81 rifles and a Chinese-designed Kalashnikov found at the site of the killing. Ulfa (I) are known to possess these weapons.Police said the outfit took advantage of tension between Assamese and Bengali-speaking people over the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Police point to high-decibel anti-Bengali rhetoric that has whipped up tensions the past months.Thursday’s killings come a week after the Union home ministry moved an ordinance authorising district magistrates of 11 districts in seven states, barring Assam, to register illegal Bengalis peaking non-Muslim groups including Hindu migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. At an event in Lucknow, Union home minister Rajnath Singh condemned the brutal killing, saying “such cowardly acts will not be tolerated”.The state Congress has called a 12-hour shutdown in Barak Valley on Saturday as has Rastrowadi Joutho Manch, an umbrella organisation of nearly 100 right-wing outfits, which has called a state-wide bandh. Army, paramilitary, and Assam and Arunachal police have launched full-scale offensive against the Ulfa (I) along the Assam-Arunachal border.DG (home guards and civil defence) and in-charge of special branch Pallab Bhattacharya told TOI that last month instructions had been issued for "area dominance by security forces in the state's Bengali-majority parts".Police said provocative statements by public representatives aggravated the situation. CM Sarbananda Sonowal conceded the killings were fallout of a rash of provocative statements. "No one making hate speeches will be spared, even if he is a public representative."Party state chief Ranjeet Kumar Dass on Friday said BJP Hojai MLA Shiladitya Dev, accused of vitiating the atmosphere with communally charged statements, had been warned twice earlier. "Dev was warned twice for his communal statements at a time of uproar over citizenship." Farmer leader Akhil Gogoi demanded a judicial inquiry into the killings and sought Dev's arrest.The 12-hour bandh in Tinsukia district called by Bengali groups on Friday was successful. Protesters demanded better security for Bengalis, saying they're concerned about their safety at a time when the National Register of Citizens is being updated in the state and the citizenship Bill may well be passed in Parliament soon.

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