The banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland again threatened retaliation if security forces and people of other communities residing in Bodo-dominated areas in Assam committed any "crime" against the locals.
"Any mistake or crime against the Bodos by the security forces or non-Bodo people living in Bodo-inhabited areas will not be tolerated," NDFB's 'organising secretary' B Noison said in a statement sent to media houses in Guwahati.
"We also appeal to all frontal organisations of the Bodos like Bodo Sahitya Sabha and others to take the
initiative of uniting the people," he said. Noison claimed that security forces had killed many innocent Bodo people in the name of carrying out operations against the NDFB.
"When one NDFB member is killed, hundreds come to join the organisation and as such the government should take a lesson from this and take the initiative to solve the Bodo issue," he said.
"After the arrest of our chairman Ranjan Daimary, we remained quiet during which the security forces took advantage to kill or nab our cadres," he claimed.
"Keeping quiet for sometime should not be interpreted as our weakness but this may lead to violent incidents for which the government and security forces will be only responsible and to blame," Noison warned.
The NDFB had earlier issued a threat that if one of their cadres was killed, at least 20 people -- security forces or civilians -- would be killed and they carried out their threat killing 24 people since November 8.
The Arunachal Pradesh government has issued an advisory to tourists travelling to picturesque locations in Arunachal Pradesh through Assam in light of the NDFB's latest threat.
The Arunachal Pradesh government has asked domestic as well as foreign tourists visiting the hill state to report to local police check posts, on their arrival in the state, for their safety.
The Arunachal government also declared a high alert along the highways touching Assam and suspended vehicular traffic at night along these routes as a precautionary measure.
With PTI inputs
