Snap all ties with Bangla : AASU

GUWAHATI, April 23: The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) today demanded that India should snap all its ties with Bangladesh as the barbarism perpetrated by the Bangladeshi security forces on the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) personnel in Mankachar sector has exposed the attitude of the Bangladeshi authorities towards India, it said. Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, after a four-day visit to the Indo-Bangla border areas in Mankachar, as a leader of an AASU team, chief organising secretary of the AASU Inamul Haque said that the barbarism committed by the Bangladeshi authorities on the captured BSF personnel made those who saw the bodies of these Indian Security personnel so shocked that they had no word left to them even to condemn the act. A country which can commit such atrocities on the personnel of its neighbour should not be treated as a friendly country by the affected neighbour, Haque said. He also condemned the 'indifference' shown by the Union government towards the developments in Mankachar and Pyrdiwah areas, saying, it reflects the attitude of the Union government towards the NE region. The Centre was hyper-active when Pakistani mercenaries intruded into Kargil sector, but it maintained silence when Bangladeshi forces occupied Indian territories in NE region, he said. The AASU has been raising repeatedly the issue of Bangladeshi occupation of about 575 bighas of Indian land in Boroibari areas, besides, the vulnerability of Indian riverine areas to Bangladeshi intrusion and the issue of the BSF's lack of adequate number of personnel and sophisticated arms in this part of the country in the meetings with the Government, but the Union government is not paying any heed to the concerns expressed by the AASU, Haque said. The failure of the Union government to rise up to the situation has led to the recent developments across the Indo-Bangla border and there is every possibility of the involvement of Pakistani ISI in the incidents, he said. Meanwhile, about 20,000 people of about 20 villages of the border areas have fled their homes to Ampati, Phulbari and Singimari in Meghalaya, Dhubri and South Salmara. Some people are also taking shelter with their relatives at Mankachar town. Most of the people in the border areas are poor and people in general in these areas are still suffering from a sense of insecurity, as, to them, if the BSF personnel are insecure who can guarantee security to the common people, Haque said. Though the Government is distributing some relief items among the people taking shelter at Ampati and Thekamari Janata High School, the urgent need of the hour is to boost the morale of the people of those areas so that in the coming days they also can offer resistance in an organised manner to the intruding forces, Haque said. He also mourned the untimely death of the BSF personnel in Mankachar sector and conveyed sympathies to the bereaved families. The AASU team which visited the Mankachar areas consisted of Haque, Dhubri District organising secretary of the AASU Pran Kanta Mandal, presidents and general secretaries of the South Salmara sub-division unit and Sukchar, Hatsingimari and South Salmara Anchalik units of the AASU.