Cong leader wants judicial probe into Assam killings

“The situation in Assam is turning from bad to worse, and allegations that the Mahanta government too is involved in these killings are very serious. I demand that Chief Minister Mahanta step down temporarily while a probe is conducted into the killings,” Chaliha, who represented Guwahati in the Lok Sabha from 1991 to 1996, and is considered close to Sonia Gandhi, said.

“If the state government or its police force is involved in the killings, then it is a grave threat to the very Constitution of India. There is a situation where the common people are on the verge of losing faith in the governance of the Constitution,” Chaliha said.

He also accused Mahanta of unnecessarily blaming the Congress of inciting the killings and said that the Chief Minsiter had not been able to substantiate his claims.

“It is also strange that the Union Home Ministry has not reacted to the allegations or to the killings in the state,” the former MP asserted. Chaliha added that he would soon meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and apprise her of the situation, apart from seeking her support to his demand for a judicial probe into the Assam situation.

In 1991, Chaliha had parted ways with then Assam Congress leader Hiteswar Saikia, following which he joined the AGP, only to go back to his parent party after Sonia Gandhi took over as president.

Flaying the AGP-led government for failing to tackle the situation arising out of the fratricidal killings between ULFA members and those who had surrendered, Chaliha also alleged that the AGP might utilise the surrendered militants during the forthcoming elections against the Congress and other Opposition parties.

“The state government is supposed to be the guardian of life and property of the common people. But instead, if the allegations are to be believed, then it is the government which is patronising the killings,” Chaliha said.The former MP also described as eye-wash a recent announcement made by the Guwahati Superintendent of Police that the surrendered ULFA members have been asked to deposit the illegal that are in their possession. “Why was the police waiting so long to get back the illegal arms?” he asked.

Family members of several ULFA leaders have been killed in the past two to three weeks as a reaction to the murder of several surrendered members of the group, with the government failing to arrest any of the culprits.