Date:12/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/12/stories/2008101254441000.htm

National

Assam to seek CBI probe into clashes

Sushanta Talukdar

We will call off ceasefire if NDFB’s hand is proved: Gogoi

A conspiracy by government to malign us: NDFB
Vested interests hoisted flag in Bodo village to foment trouble: Minister

Guwahati: The Assam government will seek a CBI probe into the clashes between Bodos and immigrant Muslim settlers in Udalguri and Darrang districts and the alleged hoisting of the Pakistan flag in a Bodo village during the violence.

Announcing this, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told a press conference here on Saturday that there were allegations that the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) was involved in the clashes. If the charge was established, the government would call off the ceasefire with the militant outfit. The NDFB, however, described the allegation as a government conspiracy to malign it.

Mr. Gogoi said the clashes left 55 dead, including 24 people killed in police firing, and 111 injured. Altogether 54 villages were affected and about 2,500 houses either completely burnt or partially damaged. Over two lakh people took shelter in relief camps. Earlier, government spokesman and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told journalists that some vested forces hoisted a flag on October 4 at Jhargaon with intent to create communal trouble.

Dr. Sarma claimed that the flag was made and hoisted by a non-Muslim. Showing a video footage, he said the hoisted flag was disproportionate in size and shape and the crescent moon and the star were facing downward, in contrast to the appearance of the Pakistani flag.

A first information report was already lodged and Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order) Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta would probe the matter. “We will vigorously pursue the case as it will reveal the ultimate truth behind the whole clash,” Dr. Sarma said.

The Minister accused the NDFB of being involved in the clashes and indulging in ethnic cleansing. He said the outfit, in its charter of demands submitted to the Centre on September 20, described both non-tribal and illegal migrants as encroachers in Bodoland. Dr. Sarma said the NDFB did not represent Bodos. He claimed that a Muslim group was also active in the two districts to create trouble and the clashes were not a one-sided affair.

BJP’s charge

Meanwhile, BJP vice-president Bijoya Chakraborty and the All-Assam Students’ Union accused the Gogoi government of trying to hush up the issue of “hoisting of the Pakistani flag” for vote-bank politics.