Bandhs to protest deaths

Nagaon/Kokrajhar, May 8 : Normal life was thrown out of gear in the North Cachar Hills and Baksa districts today during two separate bandhs called to protest the deaths of three persons, including a student leader and a pastor, allegedly in the custody of security forces last week.

The 12-hour bandh in Baksa was called in protest against the killing of two youths on April 28 whom the army said were hardcore militants, but who, residents said, were innocent.

The 12-hour bandh called by the ASDC is in protest against the death of one of its senior party leaders allegedly in the custody of the Assam Rifles on Friday at Haflong.

NC Hills police said the bandh passed off peacefully. The family of the victim today received the body from the police after completion of the second post-mortem at GMCH and brought it to his birthplace, Dimapur, for cremation.

The middle-aged ASDC leader and pastor, Liden Jidung, was picked up from his residence in Haflong along with a party worker and a village headman on April 30. The next day, Assam Rifles handed over the body of Jidung to the police, claiming that he was suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure and had died soon after interrogation.

The ASDC claimed that Jidung died of torture in the Assam Rifles camp.

The Baksa district bandh called by All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA) in protest against the deaths of two youths — its district vice-president Jayanta Sing and Rajesh Bandoa — in an alleged encounter with the army affected life in Adivasi-dominated areas like Mushalpur and Dumni.

Anil Kujur, president of the district unit of the AASAA, said they have filed an FIR against the army at Mushalpur police station for allegedly killing the youths in a fake encounter. The AASAA members will meet again tomorrow to discuss its future course of action.

IRB men out of clash zone

Bandh today to protest Bokoliahat firing

Two of the women injured in the IRB firing at Bokoliahat Civil Hospital on Wednesday. Picture by Eastern Projections Nagaon, Feb 12  The India Reserve Battalion personnel deployed at Bokoliahat in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district were today shifted out of the area to quell public anger over the killing of a teenaged girl in IRB firing on Monday. Two major political parties in the district — the Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) and the CPM(L) — have separately called a 12-hour Karbi Anglong bandh from 5am tomorrow in protest against the killing of 17-year-old Parboti Terangpi.  District superintendent of police K.K. Sarma said the IRB personnel would be replaced by the CRPF. He said the shifting had become necessary given the anger of the people towards the security force. “The seven-member IRB team will be sent to some other place far away from Bokoliahat,” he added. Yesterday, a large number of people demonstrated and pelted stones at Bokoliahat police station in protest against the “unprovoked firing”. Two policemen were injured in the mob rage. IRB havildar Nuruddin Ahmed had opened fire on a group of villagers from Phanglokpet on Monday evening when they went to the temporary IRB camp in the village to lodge a complaint against some IRB personnel who beat up some local youths during a religious function. Parboti was killed in the firing and five others, including four girls, were injured.  The havildar’s arrest on Monday failed to calm down the villagers, forcing the district administration to remove the camp from the area.  The village, however, continued to churn in anger as Parboti was cremated at the village public cremation ground. Hundreds, including teachers and students of Phanglokpet High English School where she was a student Class X, were present.  The ASDC and CPM(L) today threatened to launch a “mass agitation” if the victims’ families did not get justice as promised by the local administration and if the harassment of innocent civilians by the security forces was not stopped immediately.  IRB commander Prasanta Sagar Changmai, who rushed to the district yesterday, completed his field investigation and left today. He will submit his report to additional DGP (training and armed police) Sibabrata Kakoti.  A high-level team of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, led by its chief executive member Jayram Engleng, visited Phanglokpet this evening.  Karbi Human Rights Watch today said it would soon publish a paper listing the incidents in which innocent villagers of the district were victimised by security forces. “These types of incidents will not be tolerated any more. Soon, we will go into a huddle to devise our strategy to prevent such harassment,” the convener of the watch group, Pankaj Teron, said.