Condemn the Massacre in Assam, Demand immediate arrest of Pramila Rani Brahma; Ensure safety of Muslims in BTAD: A Statement by Civil Society Groups, Activists and Concerned Citizens
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We, the undersigned, express our profound sense of grief and alarm over the gruesome massacre of Bengali-speaking Muslims on 2nd May. This most recent round of killings — in which 32 people, mostly women and children have lost their lives – is another link in the long and… bloody sequence of ethnic cleansing being carried out by tribal Bodo militant groups with impunity.
For years, Hindutva politics has successfully created the bogey of the ‘Bangladeshi’, rendering Muslims as suspects and targets, locked in a perpetual battle with the tribal Bodos. In his rally at Silchar, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate reiterated precisely this. He said: “There are two kinds of people who came from Bangladesh to Assam: those brought as part of a political conspiracy for vote bank politics of a particular party (Muslims) and others who were harassed in the neighbouring country (Hindus). Those brought for vote bank politics and smugglers must be pushed back, while the second category must be accommodated.” (Silchar, 22nd February).
More recently, poll violence at Harbhanga polling booth of Gossaigaon under 5-Kokrajhar LS(ST) Constituency was followed by a brutal police crackdown on on the villagers of Harbhanga, Jamunatari, Balabara. Many victims and conscious citizens in BTAD think that the incident of Harbhanga Polling Booth was meticulously planned to teach non-Bodo inhabitants a lesson for voting against the atrocious ruling administration.
The immediate provocation for the 2nd May killings seem to have come from the communal statement made by Pramila Rani Brahma, BPF (formerly BLT, a terrorist militant organisation) legislator and former Agricultural Minister of Assam who accused the Muslims of not voting for the BPF candidate Chandan Brahma. She demanded that BPF (a Congress Alliance partner in Assam State Government and ruling party in local BTAD administration) should therefore support BJP.
Immediately after her statement, separate incidents of violence broke out: a prominent Non-Bodo journalist of BTAD Mr. Dhananjoy Nath was attacked; three people were killed on the spot at Narshingpara, and another girl child injured;. at around 12:00 am mid night, a heavily armed militant group killed eight people and injured at least four including women and children at Balapara. These were to be a prelude to the mass killings that were to follow the next day, ie., 2nd of May, 2014, when a group of forty heavily armed militant set ablaze nearly 70 houses and killed about 21 people and severely injured many more in Gampara near Gobardhana of Baksa district of BTAD area. Dead bodies are still being recovered and the death toll will rise up considerably.
Mr. Siddique Ahmed, a minister in Assam government who has visited the violence affected area of BTAD, has concluded that the members of BPF were involved in the massacre, and has also demanded the arrest of Smt. Pramila Rani Brahma. It has also come to light that guns provided to forest officials have been used in the massacre, thus directing suspicion towards Khampa Borgoyary, Deputy Chief of BTC and Executive member of Forest Dept of BTC .
We therefore demand the following:
1. An SIT headed by a serving IPS officer or Supreme Court judge should be instituted. The state police and other security forces deployed in BTAD which have miserably failed to provide security to Non-Bodos and Muslims cannot be relied upon to fairly investigate this.
2. Pramila Rani Brahma should be arrested and prosecuted at the earliest to instil confidence for the due course of law in the minds of aggrieved families.
3. Investigate the role of Khampa Borgyoyari whose close aid Amiya Brahma and others were arrested for carrying out the targeted killing.
4. Deploy more Paramilitary Forces to ensure security of the Non-Bodo peoples and particularly Muslims.
5. Provide adequate compensation to the family of deceased and to the injured persons and rehabilitate victims displaced by indiscriminate violence.
6. Investigate and take strict action against police personnel responsible for the post-poll assault at Harbhanga village.
7. Seize all illegal arms and ammunitions from the BTAD area without fail.
8. Rework and revise the BTC accord so that the democratic aspirations of all sections of population residing in that area is met.
9. The Election Commission should take notice of the public statements by Pramila Rani Brahma — which apart from being provocative also amount to a flagrant violation of model code of conduct.
Endorsed by:
Individuals
Ram Puniyani, Activist and Writer, Mumbai
Harsh Mander, Aman Biradari, Delhi
Rafiul Alom Rahman, Student, DU
Mahtab Alam, Activist, Bangalore,
Manisha Sethi, Academic, Delhi
Aman Wadud, Advocate, Guwahati
Shaheen Ahmed, Research Scholar, JNU
Parvin Sultana, Research Scholar, JNU
Ahmed Sohaib, Academic, Delhi
Nabanipa Bhattacharjee, Academic, Delhi
Adil Mehdi, Academic, Delhi
Sanghamitra Misra, Academic, Delhi
Tanweer Fazal, Academic, Delhi
Ambarien Alqadr, Academic, Delhi
Ghazi Shahnawaz, Academic, Delhi
Noor Enayat, Brand Consultant, Delhi
Maisnam Arnapal, Research Scholar, DU
Tanmoy Sharma, Graduate Student, JNU
Lesley Esteves, Queer Activist, Delhi
Rituparna Borah, Queer Feminist Activist, Delhi
Bonojit Hussain, Research Scholar, Delhi
Shohini Ghosh, Filmmaker and Academic, Delhi
Manohar Elevarthi, Activist, Bangalore
Roy Wadia, Gay Rights Activist
Myna Mukherjee
Rajesh Umadevi, Activist, Bangalore
Mario D’Penha, Queer Activist
Payoshni Mitra, Independent Researcher, Kolkata
Sasi Kumar
Ajaya Kumar Singh, Activist, Bhubaneswar
Jamal Kidwai, Activist, Delhi
Akhil Kumar, activist, Delhi
Maisnam Arnapal, Delhi University
Shaik Zakeer Hussain, Journalist, Bangalore
Asad Zaidi, Writer, Delhi
Nalini Taneja, Academic, Delhi
Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal, journalist, Jammu
N. Jayaram, Journalist, Bangalore
Sharique Ansar, Activist, Delhi
Shahrukh Hameed, Asst.Manager, Public Sector Bank
Dr. Neshat Quaiser, Associate Professor,Jamia
Vishal Bheeroo, Freelance Journalist
Ankit Agrawal, Journalist, Delhi
Nisar Ahmed Khan,Journalist, Maharashtra
Dr Rina Ramdev, Associate Professor, DU
Gauhar Iqbal, Activist, Delhi
Rohit Ticku, PhD Candidate in Development Economics, The Graduate Institute, Geneva
Shabnam Hashmi, Activist, Anhad
Bhawna Sharma, Anhad
Mansi Sharma, Activist, Delhi
Indu Prakash Singh,Rights Defender, NFHR & FACT
Oishik Sircar, Lawyer and Academic, Kolkata
Dr. Mustafa Ahmed Barbhuiya, Researcher
Neelima sharma,
Shamsul islam
Dr. rahul singh
Lateef Mohd khan Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee
Mazin Khan, Publisher, Delhi
Ovais Sultan Khan, Social Work Professional, Delhi
Harish Iyer, Equal Rights Activist, Mumbai
Ms. Yuman Hussain, Executive Director,Azad India Foundation, Bihar
Sameer Chopra, Assistant Prof. and Research Scholar, DU
Manish K. Jha, Professor, TISS, Mumbai
Jenny Rowena, Dept of English, Miranda House, University of Delhi
Hany Babu, Dept of English, University of Delhi
Anjali Monteiro, Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
K.P. Jayasankar, Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Dr Mohammad Imtiyaj Khan, Academic, Kerala
Md Raees Ahmed, IT Professional
Manasi Pingle, Filmmaker, Bangalore
Naveen Gaur, Associate Professor,DU
Safiul Alam Chowdhury, Businessman, Guwahati
Anamul Haque, Concerned Citizen
sharib Ali, research scholar, TISS
Archana Bidargaddi, Norway
Aban Raza, Artist
Alia Farooqui
Tahmina Laskar, Lawyer,New Delhi
Faiz Ullah, Researcher, Mumbai
Wilfred Dcosta, Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF)
Anivar Aravind , Bangalore
Harsh Kapoor, Activist, Delhi
Hiren Gandhi
Dr. Saroop Dhruv
Mukul Dube, Delhi
Asad Ashraf, Student Activist, Delhi
Areeb Rizvi, Student Activist, Delhi
S.Q.Masood, Hyderabad
Siddharth Satija,TISS
Fr Cedric Prakash, Activist, Ahmedabad
Rajendra Parihar, Academic, Delhi University
Bhasha Singh, Cultural activist & Journalist
Amit Sengupta, Journalist and Academic, Delhi
Arshad Ajmal, Activist, Patna
Xavier Dais, Activist, Raanchi
Waliullah Laskar, Silchar
Naren Bedide, Round Table India
Prof. Nirmalangshu Mukherji, Delhi University and many others.
Organisations
Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association (JTSA)
Aman Ekta Manch
Praja Rajakiya Vedike, Karnataka
ANHAD
Aman Biradari, Gujarat
Jamia Student Solidarity Forum, Delhi
LABIA, queer feminist LBT Collective
Karnataka Sex Workers Union (KSWU)
Engendered, Delhi
Nigah
Sangama, Banagalore
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[Via Rafiul Alom Rahman]
