>I have rarely seen a better written report.
>Please share with those you know or are
>interested:
>cm
>Please share with those you know or are
>interested:
>cm
C'da,
We all know MASS is pro-ULFA pretending to be just another HR organization.
So, one really does NOT expect them to be fair in reporting anything related to GOI-ULFA.And its not surprising you are all bubbly about their report.
Lets see the places you claim they are 'fair':
>This incident is just a tragic culmination of a recent spate of State violence. >Despite the continuing talks between the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) >and the Government of India, the Indian Army has been committing atrocities on
>villagers in and around Tinsukia district in the name of combing operations for the >organisation's members.
>villagers in and around Tinsukia district in the name of combing operations for the >organisation's members.
Huh!. While the talks were going on - the ULFA continued with a spate of viloence leading upto the Republic Day. Now, MASS the all too fair reporter is going to tell us how the army started all this!
I can tell you fairly - the Army was continuing operations, the ULFA was continuing what it does best - violence, and the talks were going on.
>For the national media it was just another unfortunate incident that highlighted >the Indian army's problems with their counter-insurgency strategy in the Northeast, >especially in Assam, Manipur and Nagaland.
So, the national media has formed an anti-Assam caucus? I read a number of 'National' and international media which reported the same as the local ones.
Also it amazes one to see MASS, ULFA, BB and others never failing to quote one of the natl. media whenever they can. Why don't they just ignore those natl papers?
>It is a shame that India continues to call itself a democracy. It is a shame that the >people of the Northeast have to pretend to be citizens of a state that treats cattle >better.
Yeah right. This whole report is on what MASS has been doing. MASS was here, MASS was there, MASS was everywhere. And they have demands (inside a supposedly 'fair' report).
Lets not kid ourselves.
MASS is just another mouthpiece for ULFA. They are suddenly all righteous and up in 'arms'.
But you don't hear a whimper from them when ULFA goes on a rampage killing people. Did we hear them after ULFA killed children in Dhemaji, or at anytime during that decades when ulfa killed someone innocent? Never. And till they do, they are just that - another mouthpiece.
Yes, C'da, to you obviously this report must 'the fairest of them all' - but you also wear rose colored glasses.
If you were to ask RAW or some other pro-GOI or pro-GOA group, would you expect a 'fair' report?
I won't C'da.But then, I am fair. -:)
--Ram
On 2/19/06, Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I have rarely seen a better written report.
Please share with those you know or are
interested:
cm
*******************************************************************************
Bloody Friday
A Preliminary Report on the Killing of Innocent
Protestors in Tinsukia district (Assam) in
February 2006.
By
Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti (MASS)
For further information contact:
Mr. Lachit Bordoloi
MASS Central Office
Opposite Pub Guwahati High School
Jyotinagar
Guwahati 781 021
Assam.
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The Event
On the February 10, 2006, eight people were
killed by bullets of the armed forces and Assam
Police at Kakopathar in Tinsukia district of
Assam. Six of them were protesters and two were
residents of Kakopathar hit by stray bullets from
the indiscriminate firing. The protesters were
among the thousands of residents that poured out
from villages in and around Kakopathar and took
to the streets demanding justice for the
custodial death of Ajit Mahanta, a 37 years old
resident of Dirak Goxaingaon in Kakopathar.
Ajit Mahanta was picked up by personnel of the
13th Gorkha Regiment of the Indian Army stationed
in the area. The incident took place on February
4, 2006. At about six in the evening, seven
people came to Mahanta's bamboo and thatched
house where he lived with his mother, wife and
two children. Five of the people were in uniform
and the other two wore civilian clothes. They
asked for Mahanta and his wife replied that he
had gone to a neighbour's. The military personnel
went searching for him and picked him up from the
way. The Army later took his body to the Assam
Medical College and Hospital claiming that he
died in a fall. This happened on February 6, 2006.
Following the incident on February 7, 2006, the
residents of the area and other neighbouring
villages came out in protest. Thousands of people
blocked the National Highway 52 in protest
against the killing. They demanded the guilty to
be punished at once. However, no action was taken
against the military personnel responsible for
the death of Mahanta. This led to the increase in
protests and number of protesters. People started
protesting at various other places like Chabua,
Pengeri and Doomdooma. However, the
administration turned a blind eye to the
situation and did not take the case seriously
even after increasing protests.
On February 10, 2006, people gathered at Dirak
Chariali and started marching towards Kakopathar.
Police tried to stop them, but the protesters
edged on. Then the police started firing tear
shells and bullets in the air. When the
protesters showed no signs of fear, the police
and armed forces started indiscriminate firing
resulting in the death of the following persons:
1. Kunjalata Moran (Female - 19), protester,
of No. 1 Tejigaon village, Kakopathar. She was a
student of Higher Secondary 1st year.
2. Anandita Munda (Female - 23), protester,
Kalakhua village in Tangana. She was ill and had
come to Dirak to visit her sister and get medical
treatment.
3. Beauti Gohain (Female - 20), protester,
No. 2 Dirak village, Kakopathar.
4. Madhurjya Gohain (Male - 25), protester,
No. 2 Dirak village, Kakopathar.
5. Dipon Moran (Male - 20), protester,
Bordirak village, Gosraguri, Kakopathar.
6. Pokhili Bora (Female - 45), protester,
Dirak Goxaingaon village, Kakopathar.
7. Gopal Bailung (Male - 75), Kakopathar resident hit by stray bullets.
8. Wahida Ahmed (Female - 30) Kakopathar
resident, mother of 6 and a half years old
daughter. She was hit by stray bullets.
9. Mandira Moran (Female - NK) Khukhani suk under Kakopathar PS.
The firing also resulted in serious injuries. Some of the injured are:
1. Prashanta Gohain Male-34
2. Sumi Baruah, Female-27
3. Pabitra Baruah, Male-11: 5th standard
student. Sustained critical bullet injuries in
right leg, right arm and right eye.
4. Monica Moran, Female-19: Sustained four
critical bullet injuries in her body including
one in the chest.
5. Loknath Handique, Male-22
6. Dibya Moran, Male-18
7. Phuleshwer Chetia, Male-17
8. Diganta Gohain, Male-23
9. Sanjay Dutta, Male-23
10. Hemanta Moran, Male-19
11. Bhanu Moran, Female-25
12. Jitamoni Moran, Female-25
13. Murgeshwer Moran, Male-35
14. Hemalata Moran, Female: Both legs are riddled by bullets.
15. Tuleshwer Chetia, Male-25
16. Nijara Kakati, Female-19
On the same day, police resorted to lathi charge
on protesters in Chabua. Curfew was imposed
immediately after the incidents in Kakopathar and
Chabua and other adjoining areas as well as those
considered sensitive. The Army was called in.
Military forces started flag march barring any
resident to venture outside. This created major
obstacles for families of the deceased and the
other protesters in getting information about
their loved ones. The district administration and
the police had taken custody of the bodies of the
deceased. It was only on February 12, 2006 that
organisations like Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti
(MASS) and Moran Students' Union could receive
the bodies of the deceased and handed them over
to their families. While three of the dead were
cremated at Kakopathar, the rest were taken by
their families to be cremated in their villages.
An old man, whose wife was missing until the late
evening approached MASS activists asking them if
they had seen his spouse of many years among the
unclaimed bodies. On being told that there was a
dead body of a middle-aged woman, he rushed to
the spot and called the MASS team back from the
site to say that it indeed was his wife. "I have
been married to her a long time," he cried when
asked if he was ready to cremate her. "I will
wait for my sons to arrive tomorrow (for the
cremation)Šthat way I get to stay with her for
the last time," he added.
The ordeals for the people are not over yet.
Several people, including two schoolgirls, are
still missing. Apart from the two girls, there
have not been any confirmed reports yet. The
curfew and movements of armed forces have also
hampered search and rescue operations.
This incident is just a tragic culmination of a
recent spate of State violence. Despite the
continuing talks between the United Liberation
Front of Asom (ULFA) and the Government of India,
the Indian Army has been committing atrocities on
villagers in and around Tinsukia district in the
name of combing operations for the organisation's
members. Areas like Jeraigaon, Pengeri, Chabua,
Kakopathar and other adjoining areas have been
virtually taken over by the armed forces. They
had also blockaded several villages in January
severely restricting movements of the residents.
During this period, harassment and atrocities of
the villagers in the hands of the armed forces
reached barbaric proportions. While some alleged
ULFA members were killed, the period also
witnessed the death of innocent villagers,
including Ajit Mahanta, whose death triggered the
avalanche of protests.
The Games People Play
For the national media it was just another
unfortunate incident that highlighted the Indian
army's problems with their counter-insurgency
strategy in the Northeast, especially in Assam,
Manipur and Nagaland. The Telegraph front page
headlines (for its special Northeast edition only
- the daily was savvy enough to relegate this bit
to another less prominent page inside its
national edition - after all, this was a typical
Northeast story) said: "Five die in police firing
on mob" . Other English dailies from Assam were
more circumspect and the numbers they quoted were
a bit higher. The Telegraph's choice of words to
describe the victims sums up the mainstream view
of deaths in the Northeast. The victims were part
of a "mob" that had to sustain fire from the
friendly neighbourhood police force. Perhaps
there was another story that the paper was keen
on subduing, as was evident in its editorial the
next day. It claimed that the death of those
protesting should not be used in a political play
by members of civil society, political parties or
representatives of the Peoples Consultative Group
(PCG) that was constituted by the ULFA in
September 2005.
This report does not wish to appear as a diatribe
against the headlines and editorial policy of one
newspaper. The Telegraph and most other national
English dailies (with a few honourable
exceptions) have seriously racist overtones when
it comes to reporting crimes committed by the
state apparatus in Northeast India. As long as
those dead are not members of a caste-elite from
the Hindi-speaking heartland; pitiable Adivasis
from mainland India's favourite exploitable
regions; or even impoverished and suicidal
peasants, they are deemed expendable. What does a
death or two matter in the racially, culturally
and historically differently constituted
frontiers in Northeast India? For that matter,
who cares if the entire state of Manipur cried
and raged against the murder of Th. Manorama in
2004? Who cares if Nagaland mourns the death of
innocent Naga youth who are gunned down by the
Meghalaya police, while on their way to a
concert? What does it matter that schoolchildren
are gunned down at a peaceful protest in Tura and
Williamnagar? How, indeed, can one find space for
reporting the gang rape of three peasant women,
by Assam Rifles personnel in Dhalai district of
Twipra (Tripura) in February 2006? Why should
India's national media make space for recording
the rage of the people of Kakopathar, protesting
against the barbaric acts of the Indian army,
when there was a cricket match to report? Of
course, there are always better, more newsworthy
events to cover. Especially when the news from
the Northeast involves the
loyal-masculine-hearty-incorruptible security
personnel on one hand and
somewhat-suspect-Mongoloid-featured victim on the
other, there is probably more reason for the
national media to dole out convoluted platitudes
and carry on with the sports page.
The selective amnesia amongst civil society
institutions in mainland India contributes to the
conspiracy of silence on the role of the security
forces in administration and governance within
the so-called peripheries of the Indian state.
While the ruling Congress indulged in much
hand-wringing over what would be the correct
course of action before the elections, the army
displayed its characteristic lack of finesse and
concern for the dignity of victims of its
brutality by announcing a cash compensation for
Ajit Mahanta's family, rebuild his home and adopt
his children. All this is truly material for
B-grade scripts in Hindi cinema. Only, it happens
to be the reality for the people of upper Assam.
To add insult to injury, Assam's politicians went
shopping for votes amidst the tragedy. On
February 14, 2006 the state home minister,
finance minister and forest minister went
visiting the families of Pokhili Bora and Waheeda
Ahmed in order to hand them cheques of three
hundred thousand rupees. The families refused the
cheques and the ministers sheepishly and
surreptitiously gave the money to grieving family
members saying that the envelopes "contained
letters" and not blood-money. All this while,
sections of the ruling Congress maintained that
the violence was an effort to embarrass the party
before the polls.
Blatant violations
The shooting of the protestors was no accident,
nor was it a mix up of tragic proportions. It is
a known fact that the district administration was
aware of the protests and the scale of discontent
that was sparked off by Ajit Mahanta's death in
army custody. Even though India shamelessly
flouts the humanitarian laws of armed conflict
and international human rights laws in dealing
with democratic protests within its frontiers, it
has some policing norms that are to be maintained
in the course of dealing with protestors.
Outright killing is not one of them. Within
domestic law, which admittedly is flawed, there
are certain procedures that have to be followed
when dealing with protestors. Verbal warnings in
the presence of a magistrate, prominent
notifications of the potential illegality of the
gathering, blank fire etc. precede the actual act
of firing on the protestors. Then too, the firing
has to take place below the waist.
In Kakopathar most of the victims were shot above
the waist. This is true even in the earlier
murder of people in Garo Hills, where footage has
clearly shown that they were shot in the head and
neck. Why are the security forces allowed to get
away with such blatant violations? How can the
government get away with patronising the people
with paternal talk about need to develop the
region and end insurgency, while they continue to
empower junior non-commissioned officers to shoot
and kill farmers, schoolchildren and housewives?
When the law of the land can be routinely flouted
by those who claim to be its custodians, why do
the national media continue to preach the virtues
of Indian democracy to the people of the
Northeast?
If there is a moral to the whole sordid saga it
is summed up in three words: "politics of shame".
It is a shame that India continues to call itself
a democracy. It is a shame that the people of the
Northeast have to pretend to be citizens of a
state that treats cattle better. It is a shame
that administration of the Northeast still
resonate with the display of brute, primeval
power more suited for imperialist systems. It is
a shame that Indian civil society loses its voice
on the Northeast. It is a shame that the national
media cannot see beyond the next cricket match.
It is a shame that people have to die like
animals even as smug bureaucrats and politicians
claim to be talking peace. It is a shame that
democratic institutions lead parallel lives in
the Northeast. It is a shame that these parallel
structures of governance cannot be checked by
India's so-called vibrant democratic system and
institutions. It is a shame that few people
outside the Northeast know about what happens
here. It is a shame that we have to be sending
out this report.
MASS demands:
(a) The guilty police, paramilitary and army
personnel are given exemplary punishment for
crimes against the people of the region and for
wilful and pre-meditated murder of innocent
protestors.
(b) The government set up a commission of
inquiry with a sitting Supreme Court judge at its
helm, to apportion responsibility of guilt on the
different sections of the administration and
armed forces that contributed to the deaths.
(c) The armed forces engaged in
counter-insurgency should be removed from Assam
immediately.
(d) The draconian security laws that allow
impunity to the armed forces personnel should be
repealed with immediate effect and those accused
of committing crimes against people of the region
under these acts be tried in the courts of law.
(e) The peaceful resolution of the political
conflicts in the Northeast and genuine commitment
to talks by the government of India.
>From the office of
MASS Central Committee
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