HAILAKANDI, April 23 � About 2,000 people including women gheraoed the Jamira police outpost bordering Mizoram in Hailakandi district last evening, demanding the rescue of an abducted trader of the locality, Jakir Hussain Laskar and the arrest of all the surrendered members of United Liberation Front of Barak Valley (ULFBV). The people also blocked the inter-State NH 154 for a couple of hours. To control the mob, a police team led by DSP K Ahmed reached the spot along with the officer-in-charge of Katlicherra police station, Shyamal Bhattacharjee and in-charge of the Jamira outpost, Dulendra Chetiya. The members of the South Hailakandi Yuva Aikyamancha, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, Progressive Students Youth Front (PSYF) and South Hailakandi Students Union gheraoed the DSP and demanded his immediate intervention in rescuing Jakir Hussain. They also handed over a memorandum to him and gave a ultimatum to the police to rescue Jakir within 48 hours, otherwise they would launch a vigorous movement in south Hailakandi.
In the memorandum, it is alleged that about 300 members of the ULFBV surrendered before the Chief Minister in Guwahati led by its C-in-C Panchuram Reang two years back and the State Government also rehabilitated them but all the members have again started kidnapping, extortion, etc., in the villages along the Assam-Mizoram border in Hailakandi district. They alleged that the arrest of seven persons along with the surrendered members of the ULFBV on April 20 immediately after the abduction of Jakir clearly revealed their involvement.
It may be mentioned here that Jakir Hussain Laskar, a 30-year-old petty trader of the locality, was kidnapped at gun point by the 11 armed Reang militants on April 20 from the Gallacherra area. The police later recovered a surrendered identity card of a member of ULFBV from the spot and on the basis of this, seven persons including three members of the ULFBV involved in the kidnapping of Jakir were arrested. The memorandum clearly demanded the arrest of all the surrendered members of the ULFBV with its C-in-C, Panchuram Reang to restore peace in southern Hailakandi.
On the other hand, Panchuram Reang, who joined the Congress in Hailakandi immediately after the surrender, reacting to the allegations of the people, said that he and his members have left all anti-social activities and now they are living peacefully. Further, he said that his team members are now engaged in the developmental works in the backward villages bordering Assam-Mizoram. Police have started a massive search operation to rescue Jakir in the south Hailakandi area.
