Jaideep Saikia, noted terrorism and conflict analyst who has authored the book, Terror Sans Frontiers tells rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa that the communal explanation -- that is being touted in certain circles amid the recent violence that has erupted in Assam's Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District -- is flawed.
The opposition Asom Gana Parishad on Friday organised a massive rally of its supporters and people in Guwahati to register its protest against the 'failure' of the Assam government to stop occurrence of violence in Bodoland Territorial Council and adjoining areas as well as demanding deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants from the state.
Over 1,700 inmates have taken shelter in relief camps in trouble-torn Kokrajhar and Chirang districts of Assam since on Thursday following tension in the wake of a Bodo member of Legislative Assembly's arrest.
The Bodoland People's Front (BPF) on Thursday said that its legislator, Pradeep Brahma, had been arrested on baseless charges by the police and reiterated that he must be released immediately without any condition.
The anti-talk faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom on Friday blamed "infighting" within the ruling Congress party in Assam for the violence between Bodos and minorities. The outfit claimed that people in Bodoland Territorial Area Districts are being made "political scapegoat" for the sake of individual ambitions of leaders.
The Assam government has decided to hand over all cases related to the ethnic violence -- that recently rocked Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri districts of Assam -- to the Central Bureau of Investigation to nab the culprits who masterminded the violence.
Authorities in the Bodoland Territorial Council have called for a phase-wise rehabilitation to ensure that no outsiders get rehabilitated in the area taking advantage of the adverse situation in Assam.
A bomb exploded on a railway track minutes after the Howrah-Guwahati down Garib Rath Express passed Goabari in lower Assam''s Kokrajhar district early on Sunday morning.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused the Tarun Gogoi-led Assam government of not taking timely steps to contain the conflict in violence-hit districts of lower Assam.
For reasons political as well as social, the Bodo tribe and the agrarian religious minority community have been living for decades in an atmosphere of mistrust under the jurisdiction of the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous district Council.
The toll in continuing violence in western Assam reached 25 on Tuesday after four persons were killed in police firing in Kokrajhar district, where shoot-at-sight orders and indefinite curfew remained in force.
Shoot-at-sight orders were issued and indefinite curfew clamped in entire Kokrajhar district of Assam following fresh violence on Monday, as the toll in the ethnic violence mounted to 19.
Two more bodies were recovered on Monday taking the toll to 19 in the violence in Assam's Bodoland Territorial Administered Districts, as the Rajdhani Express was stopped by protestors in Kokrajhar district, police said.
A couple days after Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi pledged to focus on ensuring security and welfare of women and girl child in Assam in the wake of ghastly Delhi-bus rape of a student and her subsequent death, a senior leader of his party (Congress) was Thursday arrested by Assam police on charges of rape.
The situation in Assam's trouble-torn Bodoland Territorial Administered Districts was "moving towards normalcy" and police have set up 119 new police pickets to help rehabilitation of the affected people, official sources said on Tuesday.
In fresh incidents of violence, five persons were injured when miscreants attacked two families in two separate incidents in Kokrajhar district on Sunday even as the situation in violence-affected areas of Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council in Assam continued to remain tense despite curfew remaining in force.
Five persons were killed in fresh violence in lower Assam's Chirang district on Saturday taking the toll to 85 since ethnic trouble erupted last month.
In a major setback to the efforts to woo the anti-talks faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland led by Ranjan Daimary to dialogue with the government of India, the outfit has re-elected its 'National Council' dropping Daimary from the new panel.
The recent bouts of violence by suspected Bodo militias that killed over 30 hapless 'Muslims, mostly children and women, and rendered several thousands homeless in lower Assam recently, once again offers a shocking glimpse of the horrendous game of violent communalism being played by the Congress government of Assam in furtherance of its cynical power politics for the last several years.' 'The result is, the state is a simmering communal cauldron that sporadically erupts at the slightest real or imagined provocation,' says R N Ravi.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday agreed that presence of sufficient forces in time would have prevented the ethnic violence raging in the state from assuming such menacing proportions.
It was Haldar who had played a key role in making a peace process possible with a faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam. He is also negotiating with other tribal outfits in the region on behalf of the government of India.
A civilian was killed and two army jawans when a group of suspected militants suspected of the anti-talks National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Sangbijit faction) ambushed an army search party at Amjora village under Kajigaon police station in western Assam's Kokrajhar district on Wednesday.
The anti-talks faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland, a Bodo tribe separatist group led by its 'chairman' Ranjan Daimary on Thursday warned that it would kill 20 persons in case the security forces kill one Bodo youth in 'fake encounters'.
A day after the arrest of party Member of Legislative Assembly Pradeep Brahma by Assam police on charges of inciting mob violence in Kokrajhar district in the recent riot, the Bodoland People's Front on Friday clarified that it would continue with its alliance with the ruling Congress notwithstanding the arrest of the party MLA.
Three police personnel and a member of pro-talks faction of the militant National Democratic Front of Bodoland was arrested along with arms and ammunition on charges of gun running on Thursday.
A fact finding commission of leading Muslim organisations headed by the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat has said that it was a clear failure on part of the Bodoland Territorial Council and the Assam government in anticipation and control of the situation that has forced over 3 lakh people, most of whom are Muslims, to live in around 300 refugee camps.
Three persons were injured, one of them seriously, when a crude bomb exploded at a village near Goreswar town in Baksa district under violence-affected Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council in Assam on Sunday.
Violence surged in Assam on Wednesday as the toll in the massacre of tribals by Bodo militants rose to 65 including 21 women and 18 children, sparking a retaliation in which Bodo homes and a police station were attacked leaving three persons dead allegedly in police firing.
Two days after all the doctors in the district civil hospital fled due to threats from insurgents, the Assam government on Monday shunted out Superintendent of Police in Kokrajhar district of western Assam, P K Dutta. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday admitted that the situation in Bodoland Territorial Council areas, where Kokrajhar district is located, was deteriorating. Doctors of Rup Nath Brahma Civil Hospital in the district fled.
The anti-talks faction of National Democratuc Front of Bodoland led by its 'chairman' Ranjan Daimary on Tuesday announced cessation of hostilities against government forces with effect from August 1 next 'in order to find a political solution to Bodo insurgency problem through political dialogue.
Assam government on Thursday asked the Centre to appoint an interlocutor for peace talks with the anti-talk faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland led by its jailed chairman Ranjan Daimary.
With militants belonging to anti-talks faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland and Kamatapur Liberation Organisation trying to strike fresh routes along the thickly forested and rugged terrain on the India-Bhutan border in North East and North Bengal (West Bengal), both the countries have decided to mount vigil along the border.
Warming up for his visit to Bangladesh in the company of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on September 6 and 7, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday showered praise on Bangladesh Prime Minister Seikh Hasina and her government for being very helpful in evicting militants leaders of the northeast, including those from the United Liberation Front of Asom and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, which has been instrumental in containing insurgency in the state of late
With is top leader Ranjan Daimary holed up in jail after his arrest in Bangladesh last year, the anti-talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland is sending out feelers about its willingness to hold dialogue with the government and restore a peaceful atmosphere in the state.
Gogoi's final journey began on Tuesday morning from Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), where he breathed his last due to post-COVID-19 complications, to his official residence in Dispur.
In a significant development the anti-talks faction of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland has called upon the government to stop operations against it to create an atmosphere conducive for holding dialogue.
The Centre's interlocutor for peace process with various militant outfits in Assam and former Intelligence Bureau Chief P C Haldar on Monday held dialogue with the leadership of the pro-talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland.
The home ministry said the entire Assam, besides bordering areas of Meghalaya, have been declared 'disturbed' under the AFSPA for three months with effect from May 3.
Congress MP from Sultanpur Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh Sanjoy Singh is one of the Congress candidates who have filed nominations for the February 7 election to the three Rajya Sabha seats from Assam.
Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday took oath as the chief minister of Assam for the third consecutive term. Governor J B Patnaik administered the oath of office to Gogoi in a function at Darbar Hall of Raj Bhavan in presence of a host of dignitaries and the newly elected Congress legislators.Immediately after taking oath as the CM, Gogoi told the media that the top priority for the new government would be to expedite the development process in the state.
