A woman affected by clashes between ethnic groups gestures at a political leader, during his visit of a relief camp in Kharupetiya, about 78 kilometers (48 miles) north of Guwahati, Monday, October 6. Clashes between ethnic groups in India’s remote northeast killed 10 more people Monday, bringing the death toll from four days of violence to 40, including 15 people shot dead by police, officials said. Another 100,000 people have fled their homes, they said. (AP Photo)

UDALGURI, October 6 (Agencies): Authorities in Assam on Monday said the violence over the weekend that killed 32 people and injured more than 100 was systematic ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), a rebel group fighting for an independent tribal homeland.
"The violence in the three districts of Darrang, Udalguri and Baksa was not due to clashes between the tribal Bodos and immigrant Muslims, but a planned ethnic cleansing by the NDFB to drive out all non-Bodos from the area," Assam government spokesman and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. "We have already arrested four NDFB cadres on Sunday, with weapons, who were involved in killing a woman and a child in Baksa district," he added.
"This is not a clash between Hindus and immigrant Bangladeshi Muslims as projected, but a systematic pogrom by the NDFB as many of the people affected by the violence are genuine Assamese Muslims, Bengali Hindus, common Bodos, besides a few Adivasis (tea plantation workers) as well," the minister said.
The NDFB is a majority Christian outfit with the outfit's top leader Ranjan Daimary believed to be operating out of Bangladesh. "We are investigating reports of the involvement of the NDFB in the clashes and if proved we shall be forced to call off the ceasefire," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said. "Strict orders have been issued to the security forces, including the army, to shoot at sight anybody found indulging in violence," he added.
"The NDFB cadres used light machine guns and other sophisticated weapons in targeting non-Bodos," the police official said. Sarma said miscreants from various communities were trying to take advantage of the situation by indulging in arson with a view to looting properties. "In the final analysis this is not a communal clash," he said.

NDBF denies role in Bodoland clashes

Guwahati, October 6 (Agencies): Thirty-two people have died and nearly 76,000 have taken shelter in relief camps after three days of violence in the Bodo belt, allegedly fanned by the recalcitrant National Democratic Front of Boroland.  The NDFB, however, denied its involvement in the clashes. A statement issued by “information and publicity secretary” of the NDFB, S. Sanjarang, on Sunday evening termed the reports of the outfit being involved in the clashes as baseless. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi had earlier said the government would be forced to review its stand regarding the ceasefire-bound NDFB if its involvement in fomenting trouble was proved.
Government spokesperson Himanta Biswa Sarma, after touring the affected areas with ministerial colleagues Rockybul Hussain, Nazrul Islam and Gautam Bora, told reporters that of the 10 who died today, three were from Aminpara and five from Dimakuchi in Udalguri district. Two died in police firing in Darrang’s Mazgaon area when the warring groups refused to heed police warnings to disperse.
The three killed in Aminpara were allegedly shot by NDFB cadres. Four of their cadres were arrested in neighbouring Baksa district for allegedly killing a 50-year-old woman this afternoon with the intention of fomenting trouble. Baksa superintendent of police P.K. Dutta said: “The victim was accompanied by her seven-year-old grandson, Mohammad Manshur Ali, when the NDFB members attacked her. We have arrested four members involved in the attack. Two of the arrested were identified by the victim’s grandson. I can’t give the names but the cadres came to Baksa district from Udalguri with the intention of fomenting communal tension here, since the district has remained untouched by the violence in Udalguri and Daring.”
Threatening to withdraw the ceasefire with the NDFB for allegedly violating ceasefire ground rules and fuelling trouble, Sarma said shoot-at-sight orders have been issued against anyone who is armed and people moving around in groups. The minister, however, ruled out the involvement of suspected Bangladeshis. “We are trying our best to restore normality at the earliest and all possible steps are being taken,” Sarma said. A senior official, who attended a security review meeting at the chief minister’s residence this evening said Tarun Gogoi, who cancelled a trip to Mumbai following the clashes, was “perturbed and angry”.

AGP demands CM’s resignation

GUWAHATI, October 6 (Agencies): The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) said that the communal violence in Udalguri and Darrang districts completely contradicted the State Government’s claims of peace and normalcy in the State, and demanded resignation of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for the “failure” of the Government. “The current spate in violence has exposed the callousness and inefficiency of the State Government. Worse, the violence continues even after the Chief Minister’s claim that the situation is under control,” AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary said at a press conference.
Regretting that there was no semblance of governance left in the State, Patowary said that the past eight years of Congress rule had witnessed maximum ethnic and communal violence, which reflected a complete breakdown of the law-and-order situation. “Significantly, the situation in the areas affected by the ongoing violence had been volatile for several months but the Government failed to take the matter seriously. As a result, no preemptive measures could be taken to prevent the violence,” Patowary said. The AGP also made an appeal to the people living in the disturbed areas to exercise restraint and maintain harmony. “The administration should initiate every possible measure to ensure normalcy at the earliest,” Patowary said.

Details over Assam Violence break out

NEW DELHI, October 6 (Reuters): Tribal people armed with guns and bows and arrows raided a village in India’s troubled northeast Assam state, killing three Muslim villagers in the latest clashes with Bangladeshi settlers. At least 36 people had lost their lives and thousands left homeless in violence that started over the weekend between indigenous Bodo tribes and Bangladeshi settlers. At least 12 people were killed by police firing.

Here are some basic facts about the conflict

WHO IS INVOLVED?
The ethnic Bodo tribes people in northeastern Assam are clashing with the state’s Muslim population, many of which are immigrants from Bangladesh. The All Assam Students Union has been spearheading a campaign to stop illegal immigrants from getting jobs, and is putting pressure on the government to expel them.

WHY ARE THEY CLASHING?
The Bodos feel they are being marginalised in their homeland by the influx of Muslims to Assam, who comprise an estimated 40 percent of the state’s population and form a majority in some districts. The Bodos feel neglected by the central government and accuse the non-tribal majority of Assam of exploiting them and letting the flow of illegal immigrants continue.

IS THIS A NEW CONFLICT?
No. There have been recurrent bouts of violence between Assamese tribespeople and Muslims for years. In 1983, at least 2,000 people, mainly Bangladeshi immigrants, were killed in clashes in central Assam. In response, the Indian government granted citizenship in 1985 to the millions of settlers from former East Pakistan who arrived before 1971. But hundreds of thousands of others, who came after 1971, remained illegal.

WHO IS TO BLAME?
The Bodos and the Hindu nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) blame the Congress-led government in Assam for not doing enough to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, and for not giving the Bodos adequate protection. Local media reported that the BJP called the clashes a “conspiracy”, saying that Muslims had raised Pakistani and Bangladeshi flags in Assam. State officials in Assam have blamed the separatist National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) for the clashes, accusing it of ethnic cleansing of Muslims. The NDFB waged a militant campaign for a separate state for two decades until it signed a ceasefire agreement with the government in 2005, and denies any involvement in the latest clashes. Muslim groups have condemned the violence.