GUWAHATI, India (AFP) - Suspected militants have killed two vegetable sellers in India's northeast Assam state, taking the death toll from three days of attacks on Hindi-speaking migrants to 68.
ADVERTISEMENT
"The death toll has now mounted to 68, a majority of them Hindi-speaking migrant workers," Himanta Biswa Sarma, an Assam government spokesman, told AFP Monday.
In the latest attack Monday evening, heavily-armed militants gunned down two Hindi-speaking vegetable sellers and wounded five others in eastern Golaghat district, about 320 kilometres (200 miles) from the state's main city Guwahati.
Of the 66 people already killed, at least 57 were Hindi-speaking migrants to the state, while five policemen, two government officials and two militants were also killed, officials said.
The violence, which began late Friday, has been blamed on separatists fighting for an independent homeland, primarily from the outlawed United Libertion Front of Asom (ULFA).
Most of the victims were from the eastern state of Bihar and had made Assam their home for decades, doing odd jobs in brick kilns, fishing and construction. Militants claim the migrant workers have taken away their jobs.
The recent violence marks the worst attacks against migrant workers in the state since ULFA militants killed 100 Hindi-speaking people in 2000 after vowing to free Assam of all "non-Assamese migrant workers".
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Separatist rebels of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) in India's north-eastern Assam state continued their terror strikes against the Hindi-speaking migrants in the third striaght day on Sunday and gunned down at least seven people and wounded more than five others in two separate incidents in Upper Assam’s Sibsagar and Dibrugarh districts. Reports say the violence in the past few days is the worst the state has seen in a decade. The rebels are fighting for an independent homeland.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, however, in the presence of India's minister of state for home Sriprakash Jaiswal and a high-level Central team, claimed on Sunday that the situation in the state was completely under control. The death toll in the three-day-long carnage in Assam has now gone up to 56 as one of those wounded in Friday’s violence at also succumbed to his injuries at the Assam Medical College Hospital on Sunday.
Security sources said that Sunday’s attacks took place at about 8 pm local time when heavily-armed ULFA militants raided the roadside thatched houses of Bihari workers at Chakalia under Demow police station of Sibsagar district and opened indiscriminate fire on villagers. At least seven people died on the spot while four others were stated to be critically wounded.
There were some reports of ULFA violence on Sunday from Moran and Kakoribari area of Dibrugarh district but no senior state government official was available to confirm it. When the chief minister’s office was contacted late in the evening, officials there said that they were yet to get detailed reports of the incident.
Earlier, hundreds of angry slogan-shouting protesters came out on to the streets, violating curfew orders, in protest against the killing of 48 innocent and poor workers from the Indian state of Bihar by ULFA militants in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts on Friday.
The visit of India's minister Sriprakash Jaiswal also failed to console the protesters, some of whom were carrying the bodies of victims in Friday’s massacre.
Hundreds of people have gathered to lay siege to the national highways, demanding that the maintenance of law and order in the district be handed over to the Indian army as they had lost confidence in the district administration which stood a mute spectator to the butchery by ULFA.
The protesters were blocking the movement of vehicles till 7 pm. A senior police officer in Tinsukia said: "We have never witnessed such an upsurge against the ULFA." The angry mob also demanded that military operations be started to force ULFA militants to lay down their arms.
Local residents in Tinsukia also shouted slogans against the state government, accusing it of appeasing ULFA militants. "We have been extorted. We have been killed, and chief minister Tarun Gogoi appeals to them for talks. They are openly moving with AK-47s and the government talks of giving safe passage to them," said an angry Ram Niwas Jha, who has been living in Tinsukia since before India's independence in 1947. "Our forefathers had come to Assam. We have hardly any connection with Bihar. Now we are being treated as migrants only because we are poor," he said.
Another resident of Tinsukia who is also an advocate, Ratan Sarma, said: "Those who have been killed are Indians. ULFA is doing this to give a strong base to illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. This is the beginning of a larger problem that the state will face in the coming days."
Meanwhile, Union minister of state for home Sriprakash Jaiswal, who visited the trouble-torn districts, said the security forces had been asked to intensify counter-insurgency operations in the state.
"We are also working out some confidence-building measures," he said. About his assessment of the situation, the minister said: "Terrorism is breathing its last and that’s why this desperation has been seen among the terrorist outfit to make their presence felt." He reiterated that the security forces were capable of tackling all insurgent outfits.
Jaiswal, accompanied by a team of top home ministry officials, arrived by a special flight in the eastern town of Dibrugarh and headed for the small industrial township Doomdooma to visit family members of some of the slain people and injured victims.
On the other hand, streets in eastern Assam were deserted look with an indefinite curfew and shoot-at-sight orders issued since late on Saturday. A police spokesman said there were no overnight reports of violence, with the situation gradually getting back to normal.
The ULFA rebels are seeking a separate homeland for the Assamese people and demanding the that all non-indigenous people from the area, particularly Hindi speakers, leave the state.
The rebels have been fighting Delhi's rule in the tea and oil-rich state for the past 27 years. Reports say at least 10,000 people have died in the violence.
This violence in india is going on for just too long. We need to take stand and get rid of them completely like the way we are doing in iraq.
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday called upon overseas Indians to invest in their country of origin, not just financially, but intellectually, socially, culturally and emotionally as well.
Inaugurating the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) 2007, the annual conclave of the Indian diaspora here, the prime minister said: "We in India wish to see you engaged in India’s great adventure of building an India free from the fear of war, want and exploitation."
He said India has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and called upon overseas Indians to take full advantage of the opportunities arising out of the country’ growth process.
Lauding the overseas Indians for their achievements in their respective countries, Singh said: "When I meet heads of government and business leaders in distant lands, they tell me very proudly that the Indian community is a great asset, that people of Indian origin are highly creative, productive, enterprising, peace-loving and devoted to their families, their communities and their neighbourhoods."
The prime minister had a special word of praise for members of the Indian American community for their role in clinching the landmark US-India civilian nuclear deal.
"This is an important step not just in India-US bilateral relations but also an essential first step with other countries that are members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group."
Turning to education, the prime minister said that a proposal to establish a university for persons of Indian origin (PIOs) has been under active consideration in the past year.
"We envisage the proposed university as oriented to meeting the needs of the overseas Indian community in the most sought after disciplines including engineering and management."
The prime minister also called upon Indian universities to be more open to children of overseas Indians.
He expressed delight at the fact that Singapore, China, Japan, South Korea and other countries are supporting India in its bid to revive the ancient Nalanda University in Bihar as a centre of Buddhist learning.
Coming to investments by overseas Indians in India, he said a proposal to establish an Indian overseas facilitation centre is being developed.
"This is envisaged as a source of investment advisory services for overseas Indian investors."
He urged overseas Indians to inspire Indians at home to take a broader view of the world.
"I want every Indian living and working in India to aspire for the global recognition that a Zubin Mehta, a Lakshmi Mittal, an Indra Nooyi, an Amartya Sen, or a Kalpana Chawla gets when they go overseas. Even as you discover and nurture your roots, I urge you to extend your branches."
Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi announced three additional benefits for the holders of the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards.
These include parity with non-resident Indians on inter-country adoption, parity with resident Indian nationals in domestic airfares and parity with Indian nationals in entry fees for national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in India.
The minister also capped the achievements of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) in the past one year, including the signing of the social security agreement with Belgium and the signing of the memorandum of understanding with the United Arab Emirates, which grants protection of the rights of Indian workers in that country.
"Over the next few months I am confident that we will conclude and sign similar agreements with Kuwait, Bahrain and the other GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) countries," he said.
Singapore Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar, who is the chief guest in this year’s PBD, spoke about the need for India’s strategic role in East Asia’s future.
This year, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is the institutional partner for the event while the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi is the partner state.
Over 1,200 delegates from around 50 countries are participating in the event, the fifth edition of the PBD.
There will be around 30 sessions on a variety of topics in the course of the three-day event, in which a large number of speakers from abroad and India will be participate.- IANS
Post a Comment