Assam tribal militant group had warned of more bloodshed

GUWAHATI, July 16: Sunday's massacre of 10 non- tribals in the hill district of Karbi Anglong was not unexpected, but there was little the police could do to avert it. It was the eighth massacre since April, and the third this month, and the total number of known victims now stands at 50. Almost all the victims were either Bihari, Nepali or Bengali. As in the earlier cases, Sunday's massacre too is attributed to the United People's Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), formed on May 22, 1999 by the merger of two earlier militant groups, the Karbi People's Front and the Karbi National Volunteers. According to a police headquarters spokesman, a group of UPDS militants attacked Telihal village at about 3 am on Sunday where they shot and killed Rajesh Saha and Dal Bahadur Thapa. One Punam Saha received gunshot injuries and was later admitted to a hospital. The militants then proceeded to Langparpan village at about 5.25 am and shot and killed eight more people, of whom two were women and four children aged between one-and-a-half years and six years. The affected villages fall under Kheroni police station of Hamren sub-division of Karbi Anglong district. Harmen, which falls under western Karbi Anglong district, has been the scene of five of the eight massacres till date, the others occurring in Bokajan sub- division in the eastern part of the district. Two other sub-divisions, Diphu and Baithalangso, have not been affected so far. The series of massacres have been interpreted as ethnic cleansing by the UPDS, as the tribal population of Karbi Anglong district is worried about the large- scale infiltration of non-tribals. This would seem so, as most of the victims, barring three or four non- tribal Assamese and Karbis, are Biharis, Nepalis or Bengalis. An odd fact is that no Bangladeshi Muslims have been killed so far, though the district is swarming with them. But this may change. The UPDS has denied it is carrying on ethnic cleansing. It says that it is carrying on a "resistance campaign against demographic aggression on the Karbi people," and against "environmental and ecological destruction" carried out by non- Karbis. "Violence, hatred, genocide and ethnic cleansing are not part of our agenda," said one militant leader. The CPI(ML) controls the Autonomous District Councils of both Karbi Anglong and adjoining North Cachar Hills district through its frontal organisation the Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC), which also occupies all five seats from the two districts in the Assam Assembly and has two seats in Parliament, one each in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The UPDS is opposed to the CPI(ML)/ASDC and is aligned with the Congress which is in opposition in the two hill districts. The political factor cannot be ruled out in the massacres, as elections to the state assembly and the district councils are due next year. Significantly, in another statement issued last month, the UPDS had warned of more bloodshed and violence in Karbi Anglong against an alleged nexus of the ruling CPI(ML)/ASDC with the police and CRPF.