TEZPUR, Jan 6 � Though Sonitpur district is gradually limping back to normalcy, the sense of security among the Bodos and Adivasis living in the Bihmari forest village and Thandapani area is yet to be built up in a real sense. It may be mentioned that after NDFB (S) carnage, as a retaliatory move, AANLAA and Cobra Militant Force militants attacked the Bodo villagers in the Bihmari forest village killing four persons and since then the villagers are passing sleepless nights, due to the absence of adequate security measures in the area.
Describing the present situation, two social workers of the area respectively, Ajai Basumatary and Ajai Sarma said that the common people of the area, are nowadays haunted by the memories of the brutal killing of four Bodo villagers of the same family in the Bihamari forest village in broad daylight on December 24 at around 1.30 pm by AANLAA and Cobra militant force as an avenge of NDFB (S)�s gruesome killing on previous day wherein as many as 81 innocent Adivasi people were killed in Kokrajhar, Chirang, Udalguri and Sonitpur districts. �These people are now worried of their fate as the authority concerned including the State Government and the local administration have not been able to check the insurgency problem in the area,� the duo said adding that Bihmari and Thandapani area is a hub of different ethnic communities including Bodos, Adivasis (Santhal), Misings, Karbis, Assamese and Nepalis who have been leading a simple life in the area, maintaining communal harmony over the years. This area is located along the Assam-Arunachal border, having no proper communication and modern facilities like electricity, health and hygiene and education system etc.
Unfortunately, there is little presence of administration in the area. Interestingly, it is alleged that the forest official who is posted in the area for guarding the forest is alleged to be maintaining a nexus with the militants, instead of helping the people threatened by the them. It is pertinent to mention here that in the AANLAA and Cobra militants� attack, four persons namely Raju Fathamari (33), Sabina Fathamari (22), Lakheswari Narzari (55) and Suren Daimari (55) were killed and Dandi Daimari and Chandan Basumatari were injured. However, Dandi Daimari who somehow managed to save himself from the militants said that the cadres of both the Ranjan Daimari and Songbijit group and the AANLAA and the Cobra Militant force are still today openly collecting �taxes� from the people in the area, right from Behali to Balidonga area along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border in Biswanath Chariali subdivision.
Meanwhile, social activists of the area, like Ajai Sarma, Dipak Sarma, and Krishna Mijar who have been working round- the-clock in the area with the help of ABSU workers on a goodwill mission, to clear misunderstandings from the mind of the people of both the communities living in the area, stated that the people in the area are helpless, as even after repeated appeals to the Government and the local administration, no necessary measures are being taken to check militancy in this belt, following which the poor villagers continue to remain a soft target of both the militants and the unwanted fratricidal killings. Altogether 10,000 families in the area earn their livelihood by daily wages, cultivation, firewood selling etc., who still today get extortion demands by either the AANLAA or the NDFB (S) or NDFB (R) in nexus with some unscrupulous police or forest officials as the area is still today being used by the militants as a free movement area.
�We had submitted a number of representations to the Government during the past, urging establishment of either a police outpost or an army camp in our area, but it has remained a fruitless effort for us. However, after the December 23 and 24 incidents and following the worsening of the situation, a police picket was set up on Monday in our village and sensing no further incidents, the violence-affected people taking shelter in Padumpukhuri LP school have started returning home.�
