Assam tense after five Bengalis killed by suspected militants; protests in Assam and West Bengal

Five people were killed in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district on Thursday evening by suspected United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) terrorists. The area is approximately 500 km from the state capital, Guwahati.

Those killed were identified as Ananta Biswas, Abinash Biswas, Shyamlal Biswas, Subal Biswas and Dhananjay Namasudra – all of them Bengalis – it was confirmed by the police.

The armed men came to Kherbari Bisonbari area of Upper Assam in battle fatigues, picked up five people and killed them by the bank of River Lohit near Dhola-Sadiya bridge. They are apparently from the ULFA-Independent.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal asked two of his ministers to visit the incident site. Top officials including the DGP Kula Saikia also rushed to the spot.

The situation in Assam in tense following this horrific incident. Not only the state police and the Assam Rifles, the Army too has been involved in the search operations. The Army has launched a massive operation along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.

Some Bengali organisations have called a 12-hour bandh in Tinsukia district on Friday. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the Centre for the incident. In a tweet, Banerjee wrote about the incident of Thursday night, in which she asked whether this was a result of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). “Is this the outcome of recent NRC development?” she asked. The Trinamool Congress will organise several rallies in different parts of north and south Bengal, including Siliguri and Kolkata to protest the killings, Banerjee tweeted.

 

The NRC has been a major cause of controversy in Assam, especially after a final draft was released in July this year that excluded names of over 40 lakh residents, which virtually makes them illegal immigrants in the state. Though the Centre has said that there is still room for alterations, people have been queuing up at NRC offices in the state to claim they are valid citizens of a place where they have been living for decades, and some for generations. The situation has been tense in the state for the past few months due to this.