A bus and car set ablaze by protesters in Diphu on Wednesday. Picture by UB Photos Nagaon, July 31: A student was killed and 13 others were injured in Diphu in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district this afternoon when police had to open fire to control a mob that attacked local Congress leaders’ residences, venting ire over non-fulfilment of the decades-old demand for a Karbi Anglong state. According to reports, the trouble started around 11.30am when more than 5,000 people, led by different Karbi organisations, participated in a protest in front of the main gate of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council secretariat, demanding a separate homeland for the Karbis on the lines of Telangana. They urged the Centre and the state government to initiate steps to create a homeland for the Karbis under the Article 244(A) or Article 3 of the Constitution. The protest was led by social organisations, including Karbi Students Association, Karbi Nimsou Chinthur Asong and Karbi Lamet Amai. They claimed that the Karbis had been deprived of their legitimate right to a separate state and demanded justice of the kind meted out to people of Telangana. The congregation soon turned unruly and an angry mob went to the Diphu residence of Lok Sabha member Biren Singh Engti. The mob damaged the gate to the MP’s residence and went into the quarters of chief executive member Jayram Engleng. Six vehicles parked outside the chief executive member’s residence were torched and the council office was vandalised. The mob also partially burned down the houses of six executive members of the council. The police reached the spot around this time, baton charged the crowd and finally opened fire using rubber bullets to control the mob. Curfew was imposed in the town. According to initial reports, 14 persons were seriously injured in the incident. While 13 were admitted to Diphu civil hospital, 24-year-old Rahul Singhar, a first year student of Diphu Government College, died on the way to hospital. The exact reasons for his death could not be ascertained till the filing of this report. The entire episode lasted around three hours. “The Centre has told us several times that an autonomous state under Article 244 (A) for the people of Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao is impossible. If so, they should go for a separate state under article 3,” said Karbi Human Rights Watch convener Pankaj Teron. Dima Hasao Dal president Dilip Nunisa alleged that both Delhi and Dispur had deceived the Dimasas by granting them only a territorial council. “When DHD had earlier approached the central government with this demand, they said they would not go for further divisions and that the separate state demand would be impossible to fulfil. However, creation of Telangana has shown that a separate state is possible and proven that the Centre is a liar,” he said. Karbi Anglong superintendent of police B.B. Chetri told this correspondent that the situation was under control now and all possible steps were being taken to restore normality. Engleng said he would lead a high-level Congress team to New Delhi to meet the Union home minister on the statehood issue. “Hemprek Kanthim (self-ruled homeland) is a dream of all people of Karbi Anglong but we can’t achieve it by attacking political leaders’ residences,” he said. Holiram Terang, former leader of the now dissolved Autonomous State Demand Committee, which had carried on the movement for a Karbi Anglong state under Article 244A, described today’s incidents at Diphu as an “explosion of pent-up anger, frustration and betrayal.” Terang told The Telegraph that the ruling dispensation in the state and at the Centre had promised a lot of things but never addressed the main issue — autonomy. “The issue was raised time and again but the rulers took it lightly and nothing came of it. Now that Telengana is on way to becoming a reality, the people here feel betrayed,” he said. “I see days of chaos ahead. Rulers have to be taught a lesson, society needs to be shaken up and only then, perhaps, the real issue will come into focus.” Terang and some others floated a new party, United People’s Front, a year ago, but this, by his own admission, “is not going anywhere.” Assam additional director-general of police (law and order) A.P. Rout said additional forces were being rushed to Karbi Anglong. “Curfew has been imposed and the situation is now under control,” he said. “We will do another review of the law and order situation after the new superintendent of police, Mugdha Jyoti Mahanta, takes charge in the district tomorrow,” Rout said.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 15:15:52 +0000