SILAPATHAR, March 15 - Residents of Silapathar town heaved a sigh of relief today as the Dhemaji district administration lifted the curfew imposed in the town.
The curfew will, however, continue during night from 8 pm to 5 am.
Night curfew was imposed on March 7 to control the trouble that broke out on March 6 evening following an attack on an All Assam Students� Union (AASU) office by a group that attended a Nikhil Bharat Bangali Udabastu Samanway Samitee (NBBUSS) rally, which demanded removal of the D-voter tags from Bengali Hindus.
The curfew was lifted after a threadbare meeting with AASU and other students� organisations along with senior citizens and representatives of Bengali community. Several shops were set on fire in the unrest, seven of them in the heart of Silapathar, leading to the imposition of the curfew.
Most shops opened by 8 am today, though Wednesday is the weekly closing day of the market. The shops owned by the people of the Bengali community, however, opened much later. Normal activities began in the market with loading of vehicles bound for Arunachal Pradesh and unloading of vehicles from outside.
The night service buses entered the market after five days of curfew today.
The shops owned by the Bengali community opened late as the Axomiya Bhashi Bangali Samaj of Silapathar, along with Silapathar Business Association, organised a three-hour sit-in demonstration wearing black badge condemning the NBBUSS.
Around 250 persons demonstrated in the heart of Silapathar town with demand for immediate arrest of Subodh Biswas, the prime accused of incident, implementation of the Assam Accord, updating the NRC, ban on NBBUSS in Assam, etc. They also appealed all NBBUSS members in the area to resign from that organisation.
Dr Debajit Debnath, lecturer, Simen Chapori College under Dhemaji district, one of the participants at the demonstration, said, �I came to know about NBBUSS only after seeing hoardings of the rally. It is known to very few people and only those who have been tagged as D voters know of it. We Axomiya Bhashi Bangali don�t support it.
�We will take care to maintain the brotherly relationship with the Assamese people and not let any outsiders to disturb it. We strongly condemn the misdeeds of the NBBUSS activists on March 6. It broke our heart,� he added.
Meanwhile, Dhemaji Deputy Commissioner Roshani A Korati said that the situation in the area is now normal. However, the night curfew may continue for a few more days as a precaution. She thanked the people for bringing normalcy back, saying that the symptom is good and shows that brotherhood among people prevails.
Nilesh Sawakare, Superintendent of Police Dhemaji also thanked the people of the area. �With the arrest of two more persons from Majarbari, related to the March 6 incident, the number of arrested persons has gone up to 48. We have taken Binoy Biswas on remand from judicial custody and we are progressing towards the real fact,� he said.
Regarding Subodh Biswas, he said search operation for his arrest is going on and he will be arrested soon.
