Hundreds Flee Violence-Hit

Samukjuli/Maitalubasti: The Samukjuli church in Sonitpur district wears an unusual look a day before Christmas. Though ready to celebrate the spirit of ‘happiness and joy’, it is also host to a contrasting scene of human agony and fear. Having abandoned their homes after Tuesday’s violence, more than 100 villagers from the surrounding areas, most of them adivasis, are staying at a temporary relief camp on the church campus.
It is one of three such relief camps in Maitalubasti area, about 15 km from Biswanath Chariali town in Sonitpur district. About 350 villagers from three villages of Sonajuli and Maitalubasti have taken shelter in these camps. Over 40% of them are women and children.
On Tuesday, suspected National Democratic Front of Boroland’s Songbijit faction (NDFB-S) had killed least 30 at Maitalubasti. The victims included nine boys and six girls aged between seven and 13.
“We heard our houses were torched,” said Sumi, wife of a rice farmer of Maitalubasti. “Poverty, weather and now bullets, how many things do we need to fight for this life?” Her family, which managed to escape the incessant firing by the Bodo ultras last evening, is now sheltering in the church.
Locals said a group of six heavily armed NDFB(S) militants came down from the nearby hills of the area and started firing at the villagers at 5.30pm.
“This is nothing new in this area,” said Hari Sharma, whose father Bhagirath Sharma, a trader, was shot by NDFB(S) rebels at his residence. “My father was killed by NDFB militants in 2000 since he had refused to pay an extortion of Rs 5 lakh to them. We heard some new extortion notices were served in the Sonajuli area this morning. Sadly, Assam police have failed to protect our lives for over two decades now.”
A lone police outpost manned by 12 personnel, at Tinsuti, is said to be tasked with maintaining security in the violence-hit areas in Maitalubasti. “We’ve been demanding a full-fledged police station in the area,” said Premlal Ganju, a local. “The villagers have even donated a piece of land for a police station, but nothing has been done so far.”