India gets in touch with Bhutan and Myanmar to quell Bodo violence

As it transpires, the main brain behind the brutal killings of 78 tea tribe Adivasis was Bidai, the second in command of NDFB's (National Democratic Front of Bodoland) Songbijit faction.

Sources in the security agencies, who are trying to track down Bidai, said it appears that even Songbijit, who is sitting in Myanmar, was unaware of the massacre and there was dissension among NDFB (S) cadres on the nature of the attack.

"However, Bidai, who is considered to be ruthless and dreaded within the outfit, prevailed over others and ordered indiscriminate firing resulting in massacre of even women and children," said sources adding that they are closing on him.

As Bidai, according to intelligence inputs, seems to have run towards Bhutan border, India is mulling approaching Bhutan to track him down.

The events, as feared, led to eruption of further violence in Assam with Gossaigaon area in Kokrajhar reporting incidents of violence Thursday morning. Several houses of Bodos were set ablaze by Adivasis as the backlash to the massacre continued for the second day despite indefinite curfew clamped in the entire district.

Three Adivasis were killed in police firing during protests against the carnage on Wednesday. In Kokrajhar, the other severely affected district, retaliatory violence by Adivasis claimed the lives of four Bodos at Manikpur and Dimapur areas.

Curfew has been also imposed in the affected areas of Sonitpur, Udalguri and Chirang districts along with parts of Dhubri and Baksa districts as precautionary measure, police said.

The worry, however, remains to contain the retaliatory violence in remote villages and stop it from turning into fill blown ethnic backlash.

As a saving grace, all Bodo social and literary organisations came out in the open to condemn and denounce the attack.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the situation in Sonitpur, one of the three violence-hit districts in lower Assam before announcing strong action against NDFB(S) under the Centre's "zero tolerance" policy towards such "crafted terror" incidents.

"The incidents are a challenge for the country. We had talks with Bhutan and Myanmar. They said they will cooperate," Singh said after visiting Sonitpur and Kokrajhar districts.

After having meetings from Assam chief minister and top security brass, Singh spoke to the external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to seek help from Bhutan and Myanmar to tackle the banned militant outfit, sources said.

Likewise the modus operandi of erstwhile ULFA, the Bodo militant outfit has also set up a few bases in the dense forest along the Indo-Bhutan border. Following offensive by security forces, its cadres often sneak into the Bhutanese territory making it difficult to track them down.

Singh also said that prime minister Narendra Modi had taken the matter very seriously. "He (Modi) wants to develop the region but there are some forces which are trying to obstruct. But we will win over," he said but did not name them.

"The incidents will be probed by the National Investigation Agency. The government wants to find out who all are behind," Singh said.

Toll rises to 78
Guwahati/Sonitpur: Fresh incidents of violence were reported in Kokrajhar district this morning in the aftermath of Tuesday's killing of adivasis by NDFB (S) militants and retaliatory violence thereafter, with the toll of the victims increasing to 78 on Thursday.

In the Gossaigaon area of Kokrajhar district several houses of Bodos were set ablaze by adivasis early in the morning despite an indefinite curfew clamped in the entire district, a police official said.

Sonitpur district bore the brunt of the violence where six more bodies were found on Thursday morning from Maitalu Basti under Zinzia police station bordering Arunachal Pradesh, taking the district's individual toll to 43.
Three adivasis were killed in police firing on protesters on Wednesday taking the the total number of dead in the district to 46.

In Kokrajhar, the other affected district, retaliatory violence by adivasis claimed the lives of four Bodos at Manikpur and Dimapur areas taking the total there to 29.

In Chirang district, the death toll remained three.