NEW DELHI, May 5 � The AICC today strongly condemned State Minister Siddique Ahmed�s controversial statement he made during the recent violence in the BTAD areas.
Replying to a question, Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Shinghvi, while declining to go into the details, said the AICC condemned such statements.
Minister Siddique Ahmed on Saturday said that extremist elements in the Bodoland People�s Front (BPF) were responsible for the recent violence that killed more than 30 people in the State.
�This is a poll-related violence and should not become communal. But these attacks are being committed on a community. We want to spread the message that such violence should not take place and peace should prevail,� said Ahmed.
Meanwhile, students from the Jamia Milia Islamia and Delhi University today staged a demonstration in front of the Assam Bhavan here demanding dismissal of the BPF-led BTC for its failure to check violence.
Groups of students raised slogans against the Assam Government as well, and deplored its failure to check violence in BTAD areas.
Displaying placards, the students demanded dismissal of Hagrama Mohilary-led BTC for its failure to protect the life and properties of people belonging to the minority community.
Meanwhile, welcoming the decision of the Assam Government to get the genocide probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Forum for Muslim Studies and Analysis (FMSA) claimed that creation of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) was a wrong decision on the part of the Central Government, as the power to govern had been transferred to those very forces which were accused of killing Muslims earlier.
Prof Razaullah Khan who chaired a meeting organised by the FMSA at Aligarh, said the communal forces have always targeted the Muslims living in Assam from generations and have tried to prove them as Bangladeshis.
FMSA secretary Jasim Mohammad, recalling BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi�s speech, when he threatened that illegal Bangladeshis must leave before May 16, said that all Bengali Muslims settled in Assam are under threat in the name of Bangladeshis.
He alleged that the Assam Government headed by Tarun Gogoi has no control on the area. Either the Council should be abolished and taken over by the Centre or Muslims must be included in its administration, he said.
The FMSA passed a resolution unanimously demanding compensation of Rs. 15 lakh to the families of those who were killed. In another resolution it has said that a high level committee of retired Supreme Court judges should be constituted to oversee the investigations by the NIA.
Meanwhile, the National Alliance of Peoples Movement (NAPM) has condemned the attacks on women, men and children and the failure of the Assam Government in protecting the lives of the minorities. Incidents like this keep repeating with impunity but even then the administration�s failure in maintaining peace and security is palpable, it alleged.
The NAPM has demanded immediate action against the culprits, relief to families of the dead, injured and displaced. NAPM demands that a Commission of Enquiry must be instituted and role of BPF MLAs be examined in inciting the violence.
NAPM has called for a citizen�s protest at Assam Bhawan on May 7 to press for justice for those killed.
