The attack by the Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland on former teagarden workers from the advasi community across several villages in Assam’s Sonitpur and Kokrajhar districts on Tuesday evening is part of a long campaign by Bodo groups to ensure their ethnic dominance in the region.
At least 50 people were killed by men using AK-47 and HK rifles, said Sanjukta Parasher, the superintendent of police of Sonitpur district, which borders southern Arunachal Pradesh.
The National Democratic Front of Bodoland was formed in 1998 to press for a sovereign Bodoland for the Bodos, who form about 10% of Assam's population. In 2003, the government of India reached an agreement with the All Bodo Students Union to create the Bodoland Autonomous Council. But the National Democratic Front of Bodoland still aims for secession.
Systematic attacks
Over the decades, Bodo groups have systematically attacked non-Bodos. Adivasi teagarden workers and Muslims have been their main targets. As Kaustubh Deka has previously written on Scroll.in:
A month ago, the villages that were targeted on Tuesday had been warned by the NDFB-S to leave their homes, said Stephen Ekka of PAJHRA, an organisation that works with adivasi communities across Assam. A similar warning had been sounded a few days ago. “This is a planned attack, as it was executed at the same time across the different places,” said Ekka, who works in the Sonitpur district headquarter of Tezpur.
His colleagues are on their way to the other sites of the attacks in the Biswanath Chariali and Dhekiajuli blocks of Sonitpur district, and in Serphanguri and Lungsung blocks in Kokrajhar. But because the thickly forested region is difficult to access, no information has been forthcoming.
The people who were attacked are small landowners, but the ownership of some of their plots has been disputed by the NDFB. They have faced similar attacks before.
Weekend operation
Over the weekend, the army and police had killed two NDFB-S cadres in Khungring reserve forest in Chirang district, east of Kokrajhar. An abducted businessman was freed from captivity, while arms and ammunition were also recovered. The group is thought to be responsible for staging a retaliatory grenade attack in the region on Sunday.
The NDFB has had a long-standing flip-flop with ceasefires with the Assam government, and has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the government of India. In 2012, a split within the group resulted in two armed factions. The NDFB-RB is led by Ranjan Daimary, while the NDFB-S, the group involved in the latest attacks, is headed by IK Songbijit.
The group operates across the Assam districts bordering southern Bhutan ‒ Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri, Sonitpur ‒ in addition to Darrang, Barpeta, Dhubri, Nalbari and Sonitpur. The NDFB has allegedly used Bhutan as a refuge, crossing the border in the Manas National Park area. In view of the recent attacks, the Assam administration has shut the Manas National Park to tourists for a few days.
Scroll's Supriya Sharma travelled through the troubled region in May. Read her reports here, here and here.
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At least 50 people were killed by men using AK-47 and HK rifles, said Sanjukta Parasher, the superintendent of police of Sonitpur district, which borders southern Arunachal Pradesh.
The National Democratic Front of Bodoland was formed in 1998 to press for a sovereign Bodoland for the Bodos, who form about 10% of Assam's population. In 2003, the government of India reached an agreement with the All Bodo Students Union to create the Bodoland Autonomous Council. But the National Democratic Front of Bodoland still aims for secession.
Systematic attacks
Over the decades, Bodo groups have systematically attacked non-Bodos. Adivasi teagarden workers and Muslims have been their main targets. As Kaustubh Deka has previously written on Scroll.in:
The [2003] agreement resulted in the creation of a semi-autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council that administers four districts in western Assam. These four districts – Kokrajhar, Baksa, Udalguri and Chirang – are together known as the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts. The Bodos seek to transform the BTAD into a "pure" homeland of the Bodos. That ambition is at the heart of the recurring conflict in these districts.
A month ago, the villages that were targeted on Tuesday had been warned by the NDFB-S to leave their homes, said Stephen Ekka of PAJHRA, an organisation that works with adivasi communities across Assam. A similar warning had been sounded a few days ago. “This is a planned attack, as it was executed at the same time across the different places,” said Ekka, who works in the Sonitpur district headquarter of Tezpur.
His colleagues are on their way to the other sites of the attacks in the Biswanath Chariali and Dhekiajuli blocks of Sonitpur district, and in Serphanguri and Lungsung blocks in Kokrajhar. But because the thickly forested region is difficult to access, no information has been forthcoming.
The people who were attacked are small landowners, but the ownership of some of their plots has been disputed by the NDFB. They have faced similar attacks before.
Weekend operation
Over the weekend, the army and police had killed two NDFB-S cadres in Khungring reserve forest in Chirang district, east of Kokrajhar. An abducted businessman was freed from captivity, while arms and ammunition were also recovered. The group is thought to be responsible for staging a retaliatory grenade attack in the region on Sunday.
The NDFB has had a long-standing flip-flop with ceasefires with the Assam government, and has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the government of India. In 2012, a split within the group resulted in two armed factions. The NDFB-RB is led by Ranjan Daimary, while the NDFB-S, the group involved in the latest attacks, is headed by IK Songbijit.
The group operates across the Assam districts bordering southern Bhutan ‒ Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri, Sonitpur ‒ in addition to Darrang, Barpeta, Dhubri, Nalbari and Sonitpur. The NDFB has allegedly used Bhutan as a refuge, crossing the border in the Manas National Park area. In view of the recent attacks, the Assam administration has shut the Manas National Park to tourists for a few days.
Scroll's Supriya Sharma travelled through the troubled region in May. Read her reports here, here and here.