Derailing peace talks

It was only on October 30 that Assam recalled the serial blasts and paid rich tributes to the 100 people who were killed on that day two years ago. The blasts were reported to be the handiwork of the anti-talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland NDFB. A day later,the outfit issued a statement saying that it would kill 20 Indians for every NDFB cadre killed by the security forces. Barely a week later,the outfit struck,first simultaneously at two places,and then a series of attacks within a span of four to five hours on Tuesday nine in all leaving 20 dead. The majority of the victims were Hindi-speaking settlers or migrant labourers. Three more attacks followed the next morning,taking the death toll to 23.On Thursday,the anti-talk faction issued another warning to security forces and Indian communities living in the Bodo-dominated areas of horrible attacks. In a statement issued by B Naison,its organising secretary,the NDFB said it would be compelled to take heinous and horrible action if security forces and Indian communities residing in the Bodo-dominated areas committed any mistake or crime against the outfit. We had definitely taken the threat with the required seriousness. But there was no hard intelligence input that the group would strike on a particular date and at specific places, said Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi,as the Opposition lambasted the Congress-led government in the ongoing Assembly session. We will not spare those involved in these killings, Gogoi added. With the serial attacks on Tuesday,the Assam government has shifted a number of police officers,including the SP of Sonitpur. Pro-talks or anti-talks,our doors are open for peace talks,provided they give up arms and the demand for sovereignty, said the Chief Minister said in the Assembly. But the common man is definitely not happy. Why talk peace to people who are repeatedly involved in such crimes? asked the relative of a victim of Tuesdays violence at Belsiri.While most of the insurgent groups in Assam,barring the ULFA,have by and large signed ceasefire agreements with the government and have gone to designated camps,the NDFB,too,was on its way when it suffered a vertical split in December 2008 over the impact of the October 30 serial blasts. Ranjan Daimary alias D R Nabla,the founder chairman of the group who was then in Bangladesh,was dismissed in a general assembly held in the designated camp at Serfanguri in Kokrajhar,with B Sungthangra alias Dhiren Boro taking over as its chairman. A day later,Daimary claimed that he was the real chairman,confirming a split in the outfit. Considered the most dreaded insurgent group,the NDFB was founded as Bodo Security Force in October 1986,with the basic motto of creating a sovereign Bodo state on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra. It was rechristened as the NDFB in November 1994.Daimarys men have carried out a series of killings,abductions and other acts of violence in the past two-and-a-half decades. While the list of killings and explosions is endless,one of the most significant abductions was that of the then Tata Tea deputy general manager,Bolin Bordoloi,who was released unharmed after several months of captivity. Once considered close to the ULFA and NSCNK,Daimarys NDFB,like its Assamese counterpart,had set up its hideout inside Bhutan,only to be flushed out in December 2003 by the Royal Bhutanese Army in Operation All-Clear. Daimary,who sneaked out to Bangladesh,remained elusive despite several peace overtures. He was apprehended in Bangladesh and handed over to India in April. While the government maintained its carrot-and-stick policy,the NDFB announced its first ceasefire unilaterally in October 2004 for six months. In May 2005,it entered into another round of ceasefire,but Daimary decided to remain elusive.In October 2008,when the serial blasts hit the state,the government initially thought it was done by some jehadi group having its base in Bangladesh. But within less than a week,the intelligence agencies arrested a number of NDFB cadres who were part of the attacks. A year later,the CBI submitted its chargesheet naming Daimary as the prime accused.The faction headed by Dhiren Boro the pro-talks faction has continued to hold parleys with the Centre-appointed interlocutor,former IB chief P C Haldar. The Bodo Peoples Front BPF,an ally of the Congress,seeking a lasting solution to the Bodo issue,had only last month fixed November 11 as the date for holding a Bodo national convention. Accordingly,Khampa Borgoyari,a senior BPF leader,met Daimary in a jail on November 1,during which the latter reportedly assured that he would respect any decision taken by the convention. But the same evening,B Jwngkhang,deputy chief of the armed wing of Daimarys faction,issued a statement threatening to kill 20 or more Indians for every NDFB cadre killed by the security forces. A week later,as one suspected NDFB cadre,Maheswar Basumatary,was killed near Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur district,the outfit struck,killing 23 persons in a span of less than 24 hours. The Bodo convention has been postponed to next week now.Every time there is some discussion with the pro-talks faction,the NDFB indulges in some kind of violence, said the Chief Minister. With Daimary in jail,the NDFBs hideouts in Bangladesh have almost shut down. Most of its cadres are now holed up in the dense jungles along the Assam-Arunachal border, said Assam Police IGP Law amp; Order Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta. Two NDFB cadres have been apprehended on Wednesday,of whom one was directly involved in the attack at Belsiri in Sonitpur district which had left five persons dead.

The outfit has carried out 20 abductions in Sonitpur district in the past one year,and has also caused problems inside Arunachal Pradesh,by way of forcible collection of money and abductions.