Farewell to arms?

all Photo@Arijit Sen-All Rights reserved

These are the faces that had unleashed a reign of terror in the Karbi Anglong district of Assam for the last 6 years. Four hundred and eight militants of the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front laying down arms hoping to talk about 'self-rule" with the UPA government. Each surrendered militant will get 2 lakh rupees as a one time grant from the state government and will move to designated camps. I met Habe Tokbi the chairman of the outfit. "No one can guarantee. If problems are not solved, then? After independence sixty years is over. But no development in Karbi Anglong", he said. More than 10,000 square kilometres of Karbi Anglong lie trapped in underdevelopment and terror.The Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council is present in pen and paper. Corruption, clashes between Karbis and Dimasas and attacks on Hindi-speaking migrant labourers from Bihar and Nepal have held back any progress. It is also unfortunate that it takes a militant group, a government to legtimise violence and talk development at a so-called arms decommissioing ceremony. Something that takes place often, almost as a routine in some states of northeastern India.

Militancy

On Sunday, October 4, 12 people were killed by the anti-talks faction of the National Democractic Front of Bodoland. This group was primarily responsible for the October 30 serial blasts in Assam in 2008 that killed 90. But the intentions of the Centre or the State government in containing the NDFB remain unclear. As government officials/ministers keep rushing from one TV studio to another and talking about Mumbai Blasts or so-called Naxalite violence, these deaths it seems go unnoticed. It's almost as if life in this corner of India is expendable.