Assam Massacre and the Deafening Silence An Editorial: Upendra The recent killings of over around 75 Adivasis by the Sangbijit Brahma faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) known as NDFB(S), majority of whom are women and children in Assam should have drawn widespread condemnation from across India, but sadly it didn’t. In a planned attack NDFB(S) militants simultaneously attacked Adivasi settlers in five different locations, spread in two districts of Assam-Kokrajhar and Sonitpur. The militants shot at people indiscriminately, and targeted women and children. The attack is deplorable, but more deplorable is the fact that both the Central Agencies as well as Assam Police had specific intelligence about NDFB (S) plans to carry out synchronized retaliatory strikes against Adivasis and Santhals in Sonitpur and nearby areas. The alerts, which warned of multiple, closely-timed attacks to aggravate law and order problem and kill a 100 non-Bodos to avenge the recent elimination of some NDFB rebels by the security forces, yet nothing was done by the state government to prevent the same. The Assam government said that the intelligence input only came hours before the attacks, and hence they were unable to stop the attack. The NDFB(S) attack followed the ghastly attack in Peshawar, where over 132 children were shot dead. While all of India joined hands to condemn the terrorist attacks in Peshawar, there was no such reaction to the equally ghastly attacks in Assam. Most of the national media instead chose to focus on Kashmir and Jharkhand elections, than highlighting the Assam carnage. During the Peshawar incidence all of social media in India was abuzz with #IndiaWithPakistan and messages of solidarity and support with the victims were exchanged widely. But nothing of that sort happened with the Assam carnage. There were almost no protests. No words of solidarity were exchanged. No candle lit rallies were held across the nation. The victims of the Assam Massacre were in short, ignored and forgotten. TheDC is also guilty of taking a hiatus for celebrating Christmas instead of highlighting the massacre, and it is advisable for TheDC team to apologize to all the readers for their dereliction of duty. The deafening silence that met the massacre in Assam is telling of how India treats issues relating to north-East. Be it the floods, earthquakes, militancy, infiltration by Bangladeshis making the locals a minority in our own land, India has always ignored us, and unless we ourselves highlight what is happening in our region, no one else is going to bother. What happened in Assam was murder most vile, done for no other reason than to spread communal strife. The militants have succeeded. Today in Assam the Bodos and Adivasis are at each other’s throats and it is high time that all of us speak out against this heinous crime, and demand the eradication of militancy from North East once and for all. [SOME PICS ARE EXTREMELY GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING, PLEASE USE YOUR OWN DISCRETION] .............................................................................. TheDC editorial note: We were the 1st social media page to highlight the massacre on.fb.me/1AbeyQ8 and we did follow it up on.fb.me/1xWg5d7, but sadly due to Christmas we were on a break and could not continue to report on this important issue. We are deeply sorry and apologize to our readers for not being able to update on this heinous crime as much as we should have done. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of those who have lost their loved ones, and those have become separated from their family. We pray to God to grant them strength to overcome this terrible tragedy
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 00:22:15 +0000