Suspected ULFA(I) militants kill 5 in Assam

GU WA HAT I: Suspected United Liberation Front of Ass am( Independent) militants shot dead five people at Kherbari village in Assam’s Tinsukia district on Thursday. Police identified the five as Shyamal Biswas, Abhinash Biswas, Ananta Biswas, Subal Das, and Dhanai Namashudra. “I can confirm the five deaths,” said police superintendent Prasanta Sagar Changmai. They belong to the Bengali community.

A police officer said the incident happened around 8 pm when six suspected ULFA(I) militants came to Kherbari village on motorbikes, dragged out the five from their houses and shot them under a bridge.

Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal condemned the killings. A statement from the chief minister’s office said two ministers Keshab Mahanta and Topon Kumar Gogoi have been directed to immediately reach the scene along with top police officers. “The perpetrators of the crime will be dealt with a firm hand,” the statement said quoting Sonowal.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the killings and wondered whether they had anything to do with the process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Over 40 lakh people were left out of the NRC, which seeks to weed out illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, when it was published on June 30.

“Terrible news coming out of Assam. We strongly condemn the brutal attack in Tinsukia... Is this the outcome of recent NRC development,’’ she tweeted. “We have no words to express our deep sorrow to the grieving families. The perpetrators must be punished at the very earliest”

The killings coincide with the protests indigenous Assamese groups have been carrying out against the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which proposes to grant Indian citizenship to religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Assam’s indigenous groups oppose the bill as they feel it will marginalize them by encouraging more migrations of the Hindus from the neighbouring Bangladesh.

The Bengali speaking majority in the state’s Barak Valley supports the legislation as it feel immigrants are mostly victims of partition and religious persecution in Bangladesh and hence they should be given Indian citizenship. Earlier on October 13, at least four people were wounded when an explosion ripped through Guwahati’s Pan Bazaar. A Paresh Barua-led ULFA faction has claimed responsibility for the blast and said it was directed against those opposing NRC update and supporting settling of Hindu Bangladeshis in Assam.