Army stages flag march following ransacking of AASU office

The Army staged a flag march at Silapathar in Assam’s Dhemaji district on Tuesday after members of an organisation ransacked the office of the All-assam Students Union here demanding Indian citizenship for Hindu Bengalis who came to the state from Bangladesh after 1971.

Members of a little-known organisation “Nikhil Bharat Bengali Udbastu Samanvay Rakhi Samiti” on Monday attacked an office of the AASU situated on NH 15 (B), injuring three persons and destroying furniture. They demanded Indian citizenship for Hindu Bengalis from Bangladesh.

Following this local people set ablaze a car and a motorcycle and damaged roadside tea stalls, the police said on Tuesday.

Today various organisa- tions, including the AASU and other ethnic students’ organisations held a joint meeting in Guwahati on Tuesday protesting against Monday ’s incident.

Dhemaji district Deputy Commissioner Roshni Aparanji Korati said that nine persons were apprehended in this connection and an FIR registered against five persons.

“We appeal to the people not to take law in their hands. Action was immediately taken and the situation is under control now,” she said.

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who was an AASU member in the early days of his political career, described the incident as ‘unfortunate’ and appealed to the people for maintaining peace.

Sonowal said that an inquiry had been ordered and the administration asked to submit a report within a month.