see the 2013 Centre for Social Justice’s (CSJ’s) report on IDPs
(click HERE)
|
Showing posts with label displaced. Show all posts
Showing posts with label displaced. Show all posts
April 18, 2016
March 30, 2015
India - Muzaffarnagar: Fraying Fraternity (Harsh Mander)
Fraying Fraternity
by Harsh Mander
(The Hindu, 22 March 2015)
A look at the plight of displaced villagers in the wake of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar carnage.
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Harsh_Mander/fraying-fraternity/article7018550.ece
by Harsh Mander
(The Hindu, 22 March 2015)
A look at the plight of displaced villagers in the wake of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar carnage.
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Harsh_Mander/fraying-fraternity/article7018550.ece
January 19, 2015
December 21, 2014
India: Internally Displaced Muslims of Western Uttar Pradesh (Ghazala Jamil, in EPW, 20 Dec 2014)
EPW, Vol - XLIX No. 51, December 20, 2014
Internally Displaced Muslims of Western Uttar Pradesh
by Ghazala Jamil
The threats and fear continue for the Muslims affected by the Muzaffarnagar riots in western Uttar Pradesh last year. Added to the pathetic conditions of the camps where they have fled to is the government's unclear defi nitions and non-transparent relief measures. Even as Muslims continue to move out of areas where sustained hate-mongering has made their lives miserable and lose their livelihoods in the process, many of those who have filed police cases fi nd they are welcome back only if they take back their complaints.
Ghazala Jamil (ghazalajamil[at]gmail.com) is Associate Fellow at the Council for Social Development, New Delhi.
http://www.epw.in/commentary/internally-displaced-muslims-western-uttar-pradesh.html
Internally Displaced Muslims of Western Uttar Pradesh
by Ghazala Jamil
The threats and fear continue for the Muslims affected by the Muzaffarnagar riots in western Uttar Pradesh last year. Added to the pathetic conditions of the camps where they have fled to is the government's unclear defi nitions and non-transparent relief measures. Even as Muslims continue to move out of areas where sustained hate-mongering has made their lives miserable and lose their livelihoods in the process, many of those who have filed police cases fi nd they are welcome back only if they take back their complaints.
Ghazala Jamil (ghazalajamil[at]gmail.com) is Associate Fellow at the Council for Social Development, New Delhi.
http://www.epw.in/commentary/internally-displaced-muslims-western-uttar-pradesh.html
May 08, 2014
Where everyone is a minority | Sanjoy Hazarika
The Hindu, May 7, 2014
Where everyone is a minority
Sanjoy Hazarika
Bodoland’s demography is one reason why trouble will fester rather than abate: it has nothing to do with illegal migration. It has everything to do with the fact of how a minority of the population controls the lives and destinies of the others
The grim and bloody incidents in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), that narrow wedge of land in western Assam where everyone is a minority — or rather a non- majority since their numbers don’t have it — have been aggravated by the verbal violence of our politicians, the blame game and the total incapacity of the State government to deal with existing conditions.
For the second time in less than two years, thousands of Muslims and smaller numbers of Bodos are fleeing their homes, frightened by their complete vulnerability to gun-wielding terrorists, the nightmare of seeing loved ones, ranging from infants to elders, butchered in front of them and, perhaps worse still, the fearful knowledge that the government can’t protect them.
Today, the capacity of the Congress-led government in Assam to ensure the protection of minorities is being gravely questioned. For in every major communal clash or bout of violence in the Bodo areas — 1993, 2008, 2012 and now — a Congress Party government has ruled Dispur.
Complex play of factors
The State government’s seeming failure may be a tipping point for the last round of the Lok Sabha election elsewhere in the country. Ironically, the greatest violence in the country during an otherwise seemingly flawless massive election exercise has been, ironically, in the home area of one of the country’s Election Commissioners, H.S. Brahma, who is incidentally a Bodo.
There is a larger failure here too, of “us,” of civil society, researchers and scholars, the media, despite the courageous and silent role of dedicated activists and groups which have tried for years to reduce the tension between Bodos, Muslims and other ethnic groups in western Assam.
While the State government has directly blamed the shadowy Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Boroland for the massacres, there is, as always, a complex play of factors here.
One is the fact that the militants were under tremendous pressure from security forces since they killed an Additional Superintendent of Police in Sonitpur district. The police went after them with a vengeance, taking down several cadres; one police official believes it is this pressure that forced the faction to hit vulnerable targets, to take the heat off, get time to regroup while also stoking communal fears and exposing the shortcomings of the State government.
In addition, a statement by a prominent Bodo leader, Pramila Rani Brahma of the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), complicated matters and triggered outrage even from the Congress, the BPF’s coalition partner at the State level. She said (without revealing the basis of her information) that since Muslims had voted against the party’s Lok Sabha candidate, he was unlikely to do well. This has led to calls for her arrest.
Yet, the trail of blood goes back, unlike many other events and challenges in the region — barely 20 years. Before 1993, there had been few clashes involving Muslims and Bodos. Later, an armed group, the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT), attacked Santhals as well as Muslims. For their own safety, they were placed in relief camps, which again came under attack. Accounts say that not less than 50 were killed in those incidents.
In 2002, there were a series of attacks; in one, non-Bodo passengers were pulled out of a bus and shot. Soon after this, the BLT decided to come to the negotiating table.
The BPF is the party in power in the BTC, which rules the “Bodo” districts. But there’s a major flaw in the system — the BPF doesn’t have control over law and order: the State government has jurisdiction of the police. This is because the BTC was formed under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, which enables small tribes in four States of the north-east to run their own affairs in the manner of an expanded Panchayati Raj system, instead of being completely dependent on the whims of the State government.
The Sixth Schedule aims to protect tribal rights from encroachment by larger non-tribe groups and is in place in parts of Assam, all of Meghalaya, Mizoram and a part of Tripura.
In 2003, the Schedule was extended to the western Assam plains to create the BTC as part of an agreement between the Centre, the State government and the BLT. The BLT was virtually given an amnesty and morphed into a legal, “democratic” political entity: after some changes, the Bodoland People’s Front was born. The idea was an effort to resolve a bloody armed movement that had taken a toll of hundreds of lives. But to do so, without taking into consideration the overall realities of the region, was a recipe for disaster.
Another major outbreak occurred in 2008 in which both Bodos and non-Bodos including Muslims were rendered homeless and placed in camps. In 2008 again, bomb blasts across the State killed over 100 persons including 80 in Guwahati, the commercial and political heart of Assam; these were attributed to the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, led by Ranjan Daimary, which sought independence from India.
Fallout of manufactured consent
The worst outbreak of violence, in 2012, when over 100 died and about 4.5 lakh were displaced in rioting and killings, was described as the most extensive internal displacement since Partition. A majority of victims and homeless were Muslim; the involvement of the BPF turned up in the arrest of one of its council members, who was accused by witnesses of leading the attacks.
The area’s demography is one reason why trouble will fester rather than abate: it has nothing to do with illegal migration, Bangladeshis, etc. It has everything to do with the fact of how a minority of the population (the Bodos are some 30 per cent of the BTC area) controls the lives and destinies of the others. From an armed group, the BLT became a political party within a larger political process, with access to Central and State funds, power, land and resources. A number of its leaders were once wanted for their role in alleged killings and explosions; when they rose to office, their acolytes benefited. Their opponents, even the moderates within the Bodo community, suffered intimidation, pressure and worse.
An opposition movement has grown that sought to protect the rights of the other groups which do not comprise just the Muslims — there are Assamese and Bengali Hindus, Koch Rajbongshis and Adivasis. Together they make up nearly 70 per cent of the population. Any system that does not guarantee some basic rights to them and protect their interests is bound to fail.
The core of the problems in the north-east, be it in Nagaland, Manipur, Assam or elsewhere, lies in the mobilisation of identity over land, territory and natural resources. Many of the disputes between States, communities and even villages can be traced to this. The same is true of the Bodo areas, where Bodo lands have been encroached and settled upon by others.
There are two issues here: If key problems are to be tackled, then all sides need to sit down together to work out the ways that land and resources can be shared without creating further ill-will. The State government and the BTC have failed to do so. They have failed because they have looked for quick-fix solutions without going deep enough and far enough to meet people’s grievances. The fallout that we see today is that of manufactured consent.
If it isn’t, then Delhi should be worried because this volatile region is in danger again of falling back to the times of earlier troubles. At the State and local levels, governments and policy makers need to involve people working in the field and community representatives in search of answers.
Playing politics
There is a second critical point: if such processes are to gain momentum, then there must be a relentless campaign against terrorist groups. What has filled many with frustration and anger, within the north-east and outside, is the way governments proclaim that they will tackle ethnic and communal violence with a “firm hand”; yet, once the bloodshed is over, the displaced go home and the issues vanish from the headlines, it’s back to business as usual with the criminals, extortionists and their partners in politics and the bureaucracy.
Recent history shows how those involved in the violence are “negotiated” with, in State after State. Settlements reward the perpetrators with even more powers, cocooned by security provided by the State. This is described as part of the democratic process.
I doubt if this will wash any longer: too much blood has been spilt these past years.
In this situation, tossing out the mantra of “Bangladeshi” immigrants as being at the heart of the problem would be extremely ill-advised. Nothing could be further from the truth, so insidiously easy to push, so dangerous to stoke. The Bharatiya Janata Party needs to understand these issues in greater depth before asserting positions which could have devastating consequences on a fragile landscape.
(Sanjoy Hazarika is director, Centre for North East Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia.)
Where everyone is a minority
Sanjoy Hazarika
Bodoland’s demography is one reason why trouble will fester rather than abate: it has nothing to do with illegal migration. It has everything to do with the fact of how a minority of the population controls the lives and destinies of the others
The grim and bloody incidents in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), that narrow wedge of land in western Assam where everyone is a minority — or rather a non- majority since their numbers don’t have it — have been aggravated by the verbal violence of our politicians, the blame game and the total incapacity of the State government to deal with existing conditions.
For the second time in less than two years, thousands of Muslims and smaller numbers of Bodos are fleeing their homes, frightened by their complete vulnerability to gun-wielding terrorists, the nightmare of seeing loved ones, ranging from infants to elders, butchered in front of them and, perhaps worse still, the fearful knowledge that the government can’t protect them.
Today, the capacity of the Congress-led government in Assam to ensure the protection of minorities is being gravely questioned. For in every major communal clash or bout of violence in the Bodo areas — 1993, 2008, 2012 and now — a Congress Party government has ruled Dispur.
Complex play of factors
The State government’s seeming failure may be a tipping point for the last round of the Lok Sabha election elsewhere in the country. Ironically, the greatest violence in the country during an otherwise seemingly flawless massive election exercise has been, ironically, in the home area of one of the country’s Election Commissioners, H.S. Brahma, who is incidentally a Bodo.
There is a larger failure here too, of “us,” of civil society, researchers and scholars, the media, despite the courageous and silent role of dedicated activists and groups which have tried for years to reduce the tension between Bodos, Muslims and other ethnic groups in western Assam.
While the State government has directly blamed the shadowy Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Boroland for the massacres, there is, as always, a complex play of factors here.
One is the fact that the militants were under tremendous pressure from security forces since they killed an Additional Superintendent of Police in Sonitpur district. The police went after them with a vengeance, taking down several cadres; one police official believes it is this pressure that forced the faction to hit vulnerable targets, to take the heat off, get time to regroup while also stoking communal fears and exposing the shortcomings of the State government.
In addition, a statement by a prominent Bodo leader, Pramila Rani Brahma of the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), complicated matters and triggered outrage even from the Congress, the BPF’s coalition partner at the State level. She said (without revealing the basis of her information) that since Muslims had voted against the party’s Lok Sabha candidate, he was unlikely to do well. This has led to calls for her arrest.
Yet, the trail of blood goes back, unlike many other events and challenges in the region — barely 20 years. Before 1993, there had been few clashes involving Muslims and Bodos. Later, an armed group, the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT), attacked Santhals as well as Muslims. For their own safety, they were placed in relief camps, which again came under attack. Accounts say that not less than 50 were killed in those incidents.
In 2002, there were a series of attacks; in one, non-Bodo passengers were pulled out of a bus and shot. Soon after this, the BLT decided to come to the negotiating table.
The BPF is the party in power in the BTC, which rules the “Bodo” districts. But there’s a major flaw in the system — the BPF doesn’t have control over law and order: the State government has jurisdiction of the police. This is because the BTC was formed under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, which enables small tribes in four States of the north-east to run their own affairs in the manner of an expanded Panchayati Raj system, instead of being completely dependent on the whims of the State government.
The Sixth Schedule aims to protect tribal rights from encroachment by larger non-tribe groups and is in place in parts of Assam, all of Meghalaya, Mizoram and a part of Tripura.
In 2003, the Schedule was extended to the western Assam plains to create the BTC as part of an agreement between the Centre, the State government and the BLT. The BLT was virtually given an amnesty and morphed into a legal, “democratic” political entity: after some changes, the Bodoland People’s Front was born. The idea was an effort to resolve a bloody armed movement that had taken a toll of hundreds of lives. But to do so, without taking into consideration the overall realities of the region, was a recipe for disaster.
Another major outbreak occurred in 2008 in which both Bodos and non-Bodos including Muslims were rendered homeless and placed in camps. In 2008 again, bomb blasts across the State killed over 100 persons including 80 in Guwahati, the commercial and political heart of Assam; these were attributed to the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, led by Ranjan Daimary, which sought independence from India.
Fallout of manufactured consent
The worst outbreak of violence, in 2012, when over 100 died and about 4.5 lakh were displaced in rioting and killings, was described as the most extensive internal displacement since Partition. A majority of victims and homeless were Muslim; the involvement of the BPF turned up in the arrest of one of its council members, who was accused by witnesses of leading the attacks.
The area’s demography is one reason why trouble will fester rather than abate: it has nothing to do with illegal migration, Bangladeshis, etc. It has everything to do with the fact of how a minority of the population (the Bodos are some 30 per cent of the BTC area) controls the lives and destinies of the others. From an armed group, the BLT became a political party within a larger political process, with access to Central and State funds, power, land and resources. A number of its leaders were once wanted for their role in alleged killings and explosions; when they rose to office, their acolytes benefited. Their opponents, even the moderates within the Bodo community, suffered intimidation, pressure and worse.
An opposition movement has grown that sought to protect the rights of the other groups which do not comprise just the Muslims — there are Assamese and Bengali Hindus, Koch Rajbongshis and Adivasis. Together they make up nearly 70 per cent of the population. Any system that does not guarantee some basic rights to them and protect their interests is bound to fail.
The core of the problems in the north-east, be it in Nagaland, Manipur, Assam or elsewhere, lies in the mobilisation of identity over land, territory and natural resources. Many of the disputes between States, communities and even villages can be traced to this. The same is true of the Bodo areas, where Bodo lands have been encroached and settled upon by others.
There are two issues here: If key problems are to be tackled, then all sides need to sit down together to work out the ways that land and resources can be shared without creating further ill-will. The State government and the BTC have failed to do so. They have failed because they have looked for quick-fix solutions without going deep enough and far enough to meet people’s grievances. The fallout that we see today is that of manufactured consent.
If it isn’t, then Delhi should be worried because this volatile region is in danger again of falling back to the times of earlier troubles. At the State and local levels, governments and policy makers need to involve people working in the field and community representatives in search of answers.
Playing politics
There is a second critical point: if such processes are to gain momentum, then there must be a relentless campaign against terrorist groups. What has filled many with frustration and anger, within the north-east and outside, is the way governments proclaim that they will tackle ethnic and communal violence with a “firm hand”; yet, once the bloodshed is over, the displaced go home and the issues vanish from the headlines, it’s back to business as usual with the criminals, extortionists and their partners in politics and the bureaucracy.
Recent history shows how those involved in the violence are “negotiated” with, in State after State. Settlements reward the perpetrators with even more powers, cocooned by security provided by the State. This is described as part of the democratic process.
I doubt if this will wash any longer: too much blood has been spilt these past years.
In this situation, tossing out the mantra of “Bangladeshi” immigrants as being at the heart of the problem would be extremely ill-advised. Nothing could be further from the truth, so insidiously easy to push, so dangerous to stoke. The Bharatiya Janata Party needs to understand these issues in greater depth before asserting positions which could have devastating consequences on a fragile landscape.
(Sanjoy Hazarika is director, Centre for North East Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia.)
February 09, 2014
India - Kokrajhar or Muzaffarnagar: Camps shut, wounds open | Padmaparna Ghosh
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/stoi/deep-focus/Camps-shut-wounds-open/articleshow/30083664.cms
The Times of India
Camps shut, wounds open
Padmaparna Ghosh, TNN | Feb 9, 2014, 06.25 AM IST
Whether it's Muzaffarnagar in UP or Kokrajhar district in Assam, those displaced by riots have to eventually leave the shelters and return home. But the road back is full of anxieties and insecurities, reports Padmaparna Ghosh from the northeast
Everyone remembers two details distinctly — when they left home and what they left with. For Hamer Ali, 30, it was July 19, 2012. His most vivid memory is of the calm river that runs alongside his village Kanibhur. "The mobs set everything on fire. When I looked back, even the River Aie looked like it was on fire," he recalls. Samati Brahma, 45, from Aloorbui village, left at 9.30 am on July 23. "I still have the sandals I walked out in," she says.
Ali and Brahma are among over four lakh people displaced by Bodo-Muslim riots of 2012, where ethnic tensions over land and livelihood between indigenous Bodos and Bengali-speaking Muslims escalated after members of both communities were killed. Over the next two months, hundreds of villagers from Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Chirang districts scurried to camps for safety.
Over the past year, most of the riot-affected have trickled back home, some as recently as last month. But no one remembers the exact date of return, symbolizing the aching finality of displacement and the hesitance of homecoming.
The road back is not merely retracing steps — there are insecurities about safety, anxiety about livelihoods, and a sinking realization that lives will have to be restarted . While the closure of relief camps means the evacuees are no longer the district administration's headache, does it mean a seamless return to the past? It's a question being asked about Muzaffarnagar, after the abrupt closure of relief camps barely three months after the September 2013 riots. Harsh Mander, founder of Aman Biradari, an organization working towards inter-communal solidarity, believes this 'invisibility' suits the district administration . "After they disappear from the camp, the government thinks its problem is over," says Mander, whose team will be tracking Muzaffarnagar camp evacuees.
The outsiders
What is the afterlife of camp evacuees? A crucial answer lies in the geographical reorganization of these Assamese villages post the riots. Before July 2012, 456 Muslim family homes in Kanibhur village, Chirang district, were set apart by vast swathes of fields. But when the Muslim families returned, they re-built their tiny, fragile bamboo shacks, really close to each other, seeking security in tight clusters. It was as if the Muslim houses had curled up into a protective, foetal position. Thirty-seven Muslim families of Chakrashila-2 village, Kokrajhar district returned, but didn't enter the village. Their huts stand inches from the highway on the village border, as if asking to be let in. Makram Ali, 46, and his parents moved to the village 40 years ago. "Historically, my family was always moving. Now we are back to the same life." The village, with its mixed population of Bodos, adivasis, Nepalis, Rajbonshis and Muslims, was looted and burned down. Without pucca houses or small businesses and their cattle — the major livelihood for Muslims — lost, Muslims like Ali's have been reduced to daily labour and NGO handouts. (Bodos are majority landowners and received the most compensation from state as well as central governments.) "Everyone used to be employed here. It was quite a nice village ," says Ali. The brand new bicycles, shiny water drums and liquid soap bottles which NGOs have distributed are incongruous in this backdrop. Bodiod Jamal, 40, of Chakrashila-1 did not receive compensation because he didn't have a land deed (for the land his house stood on) for rebuilding his house. "I made the walls stand with whatever I could find. We got some cycles though," he says.
Nirmala Brahma, 44, a Bodo woman in Muslim-dominated Aloorbui village in Kokrajhar, was a regular at the big weekly marketplace. After her return seven months ago, she doesn't venture out after dark. "It isn't that there is zero trust; we talk but there are small hesitations. Like I won't tie my cow far away," she says. Her village has sent about 30 Bodo children to an ashram 35 kms away which takes care of their education and food now. Muslim families in Bodo-majority villages have also sent their children to relatives elsewhere.
Rahul Dey, team leader with Indo-Global Social Service Society, one of the NGOs working in these villages, says these anxieties need to be addressed. "After one of the mixed-community peace meetings, a woman told me, 'I don't know why you are holding these meetings but I like the space I get' ," says Dey.
Livelihoods lost
Bodo or Muslim, loss of homes, granaries and property has set villagers back years. Kathiram Basumathary, a farmer in Chakrashila-1 village, used to own two cows. Now he rents a tractor to plough his four-bigha plot at Rs 300 per bigha. "They return but resources are gone — cattle, water, land. The biggest loss is that of bargaining power," says Dey. "No one wants to live in a relief camp but when they leave, they are completely on their own."
Kanibhur, a Bodo-majority village was a major supplier of vegetables to the local market. Even today, a variety of vegetables are grown here. But after the return, there was a diktat against buying from or selling to local Muslims or hiring them for field work, punishable by heavy fines. Hamer Ali, 30, whose 10-member family owns 16 bighas of land, no longer goes to the market to sell the vegetables he grows. Down to a tenth of his income now, Hamer took his teenage brothers out of school and sent them to cities to find work.
Access to borewells for irrigation has been reduced and Muslim families are also hesitant to work in fields far from home or very close to Bodo areas. Whether Assam or Muzaffarnagar, economic and social boycotts are being used to sustain hatred between communities, says Mander. "Boycotts work effectively in rural areas than urban because the bitterness of estrangement is also greater because social bonds are stronger," he says.
Rebuilding trust
In 1971 there were just seven Muslim families in the three Chakrashila villages; now there are about 800. "The two communities managed quite well. Bodos and Muslims even did nightly guard duty together," says Prasanto Kumar Narjary, 70, former head of Bodo village Chakrashila-1 . He had witnessed the earlier riots of 1950. "I never thought it would happen again."
NGO workers believe that the toughest task of reconciliation is getting communities to trust the process. Shanti Gazun Manch, a team from Aman Biradari in association with Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati, has been working towards this. Team leader Srinivas recounts the first time he went to a village right after the riots, "The villagers yelled at me for even thinking about peace. I left in tears." Today, they have mixed teams of Bodo and Muslims in 30 villages that have built peace committees and have made them talk to each other. His teams broke the ice in the villages by helping with children's education , health. They get some backing from student's unions and NGOs but not the government as an official in Kokrajhar says, "People have gone back. Peace has been announced. Why do you have to ask questions now?"
Neither friends nor foes
In Muzaffarnagar, Muslim organizations engaged in relief work have suggested Rs 5 lakh compensation for the riot-affected to move to new areas and not return, a measure Mander calls "incentivizing ethnic cleansing" . Landless Muslims in Assam's riot-hit areas have a similar offer — the state will give them Rs 50,000 to buy land elsewhere and sign an affidavit to not return. "We didn't take the offer. This is where I was born. Where will we go?" says Makram Ali.
It is this very land, and inter-dependency , that is bridging the distance between the two communities. In Aloorbui, a Bodo and Muslim woman pat rice cakes together to make 'Jogran' , a local liquor. Lokhiram Musahari, 40, in the neighbouring Tintilla, goes to the fields with his Muslim neighbour every morning. Musahari, a Bodo landowner, owned cattle while his landless but cattle-owning neighbour worked others' fields. After their cattle were looted, they forged a 50-50 sharecropping arrangement . "We are not friends. We don't joke around but it is okay," says Musahari. Seated in his hut, near the ruins of his concrete house, Musahari says that rioters removed his wooden doors and windows before burning down the house. They hang in the same village in another house, a sight that pains him. Yet, he is a regular participant in peace-committee meetings because he believes they can help. Local leaders and village elders are thankful for the interreliance between land and labour. Raju Kr Narzary, executive director, North East Research & Social Work Networking, an NGO, says: "It is a good thing that they need each other. It gives us a beginning."
The Times of India
Camps shut, wounds open
Padmaparna Ghosh, TNN | Feb 9, 2014, 06.25 AM IST
Whether it's Muzaffarnagar in UP or Kokrajhar district in Assam, those displaced by riots have to eventually leave the shelters and return home. But the road back is full of anxieties and insecurities, reports Padmaparna Ghosh from the northeast
Everyone remembers two details distinctly — when they left home and what they left with. For Hamer Ali, 30, it was July 19, 2012. His most vivid memory is of the calm river that runs alongside his village Kanibhur. "The mobs set everything on fire. When I looked back, even the River Aie looked like it was on fire," he recalls. Samati Brahma, 45, from Aloorbui village, left at 9.30 am on July 23. "I still have the sandals I walked out in," she says.
Ali and Brahma are among over four lakh people displaced by Bodo-Muslim riots of 2012, where ethnic tensions over land and livelihood between indigenous Bodos and Bengali-speaking Muslims escalated after members of both communities were killed. Over the next two months, hundreds of villagers from Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Chirang districts scurried to camps for safety.
Over the past year, most of the riot-affected have trickled back home, some as recently as last month. But no one remembers the exact date of return, symbolizing the aching finality of displacement and the hesitance of homecoming.
The road back is not merely retracing steps — there are insecurities about safety, anxiety about livelihoods, and a sinking realization that lives will have to be restarted . While the closure of relief camps means the evacuees are no longer the district administration's headache, does it mean a seamless return to the past? It's a question being asked about Muzaffarnagar, after the abrupt closure of relief camps barely three months after the September 2013 riots. Harsh Mander, founder of Aman Biradari, an organization working towards inter-communal solidarity, believes this 'invisibility' suits the district administration . "After they disappear from the camp, the government thinks its problem is over," says Mander, whose team will be tracking Muzaffarnagar camp evacuees.
The outsiders
What is the afterlife of camp evacuees? A crucial answer lies in the geographical reorganization of these Assamese villages post the riots. Before July 2012, 456 Muslim family homes in Kanibhur village, Chirang district, were set apart by vast swathes of fields. But when the Muslim families returned, they re-built their tiny, fragile bamboo shacks, really close to each other, seeking security in tight clusters. It was as if the Muslim houses had curled up into a protective, foetal position. Thirty-seven Muslim families of Chakrashila-2 village, Kokrajhar district returned, but didn't enter the village. Their huts stand inches from the highway on the village border, as if asking to be let in. Makram Ali, 46, and his parents moved to the village 40 years ago. "Historically, my family was always moving. Now we are back to the same life." The village, with its mixed population of Bodos, adivasis, Nepalis, Rajbonshis and Muslims, was looted and burned down. Without pucca houses or small businesses and their cattle — the major livelihood for Muslims — lost, Muslims like Ali's have been reduced to daily labour and NGO handouts. (Bodos are majority landowners and received the most compensation from state as well as central governments.) "Everyone used to be employed here. It was quite a nice village ," says Ali. The brand new bicycles, shiny water drums and liquid soap bottles which NGOs have distributed are incongruous in this backdrop. Bodiod Jamal, 40, of Chakrashila-1 did not receive compensation because he didn't have a land deed (for the land his house stood on) for rebuilding his house. "I made the walls stand with whatever I could find. We got some cycles though," he says.
Nirmala Brahma, 44, a Bodo woman in Muslim-dominated Aloorbui village in Kokrajhar, was a regular at the big weekly marketplace. After her return seven months ago, she doesn't venture out after dark. "It isn't that there is zero trust; we talk but there are small hesitations. Like I won't tie my cow far away," she says. Her village has sent about 30 Bodo children to an ashram 35 kms away which takes care of their education and food now. Muslim families in Bodo-majority villages have also sent their children to relatives elsewhere.
Rahul Dey, team leader with Indo-Global Social Service Society, one of the NGOs working in these villages, says these anxieties need to be addressed. "After one of the mixed-community peace meetings, a woman told me, 'I don't know why you are holding these meetings but I like the space I get' ," says Dey.
Livelihoods lost
Bodo or Muslim, loss of homes, granaries and property has set villagers back years. Kathiram Basumathary, a farmer in Chakrashila-1 village, used to own two cows. Now he rents a tractor to plough his four-bigha plot at Rs 300 per bigha. "They return but resources are gone — cattle, water, land. The biggest loss is that of bargaining power," says Dey. "No one wants to live in a relief camp but when they leave, they are completely on their own."
Kanibhur, a Bodo-majority village was a major supplier of vegetables to the local market. Even today, a variety of vegetables are grown here. But after the return, there was a diktat against buying from or selling to local Muslims or hiring them for field work, punishable by heavy fines. Hamer Ali, 30, whose 10-member family owns 16 bighas of land, no longer goes to the market to sell the vegetables he grows. Down to a tenth of his income now, Hamer took his teenage brothers out of school and sent them to cities to find work.
Access to borewells for irrigation has been reduced and Muslim families are also hesitant to work in fields far from home or very close to Bodo areas. Whether Assam or Muzaffarnagar, economic and social boycotts are being used to sustain hatred between communities, says Mander. "Boycotts work effectively in rural areas than urban because the bitterness of estrangement is also greater because social bonds are stronger," he says.
Rebuilding trust
In 1971 there were just seven Muslim families in the three Chakrashila villages; now there are about 800. "The two communities managed quite well. Bodos and Muslims even did nightly guard duty together," says Prasanto Kumar Narjary, 70, former head of Bodo village Chakrashila-1 . He had witnessed the earlier riots of 1950. "I never thought it would happen again."
NGO workers believe that the toughest task of reconciliation is getting communities to trust the process. Shanti Gazun Manch, a team from Aman Biradari in association with Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati, has been working towards this. Team leader Srinivas recounts the first time he went to a village right after the riots, "The villagers yelled at me for even thinking about peace. I left in tears." Today, they have mixed teams of Bodo and Muslims in 30 villages that have built peace committees and have made them talk to each other. His teams broke the ice in the villages by helping with children's education , health. They get some backing from student's unions and NGOs but not the government as an official in Kokrajhar says, "People have gone back. Peace has been announced. Why do you have to ask questions now?"
Neither friends nor foes
In Muzaffarnagar, Muslim organizations engaged in relief work have suggested Rs 5 lakh compensation for the riot-affected to move to new areas and not return, a measure Mander calls "incentivizing ethnic cleansing" . Landless Muslims in Assam's riot-hit areas have a similar offer — the state will give them Rs 50,000 to buy land elsewhere and sign an affidavit to not return. "We didn't take the offer. This is where I was born. Where will we go?" says Makram Ali.
It is this very land, and inter-dependency , that is bridging the distance between the two communities. In Aloorbui, a Bodo and Muslim woman pat rice cakes together to make 'Jogran' , a local liquor. Lokhiram Musahari, 40, in the neighbouring Tintilla, goes to the fields with his Muslim neighbour every morning. Musahari, a Bodo landowner, owned cattle while his landless but cattle-owning neighbour worked others' fields. After their cattle were looted, they forged a 50-50 sharecropping arrangement . "We are not friends. We don't joke around but it is okay," says Musahari. Seated in his hut, near the ruins of his concrete house, Musahari says that rioters removed his wooden doors and windows before burning down the house. They hang in the same village in another house, a sight that pains him. Yet, he is a regular participant in peace-committee meetings because he believes they can help. Local leaders and village elders are thankful for the interreliance between land and labour. Raju Kr Narzary, executive director, North East Research & Social Work Networking, an NGO, says: "It is a good thing that they need each other. It gives us a beginning."
January 05, 2014
India: Next Target: Muzaffarnagar Relief Camps (अगला निशाना: मुज़फ्फरनगर राहत शिविर ) | A reportage by NewsClic
Newsclick Production, December 29, 2013
On the 27th of December, 2013 the riot victims in Loi relief camp in Muzaffarnagar district once again witnessed the heavy- handedness and insensitivity of the U.P government yet again. In the peak of the winter cold, the government is trying to evacuate the refugees in the camp. Around 10 tents in the camp were destroyed by a bulldozer early morning on 27th December. Ironically, most of the people being targeted are those who still haven't received any compensation from the state for the losses they suffered during the riots. Along with this the feature also looks at the fear among the riot victims in other relief camps.
२७ दिसंबर, २०१३ को मुज़फ्फरनगर के लोई राहत शिविर में दंगा पीड़ितों को एक बार फिर उ.प्र. सरकार की संवेदनहीनता और क्रूरता का सामना करना पड़ा। सर्दियों की चरम पर सरकार शरणार्थियों को शिविरों से हटाने पर अमादा है। २७ दिसंबर की सुबह को सरकार द्वारा १० झुग्गियों को बलपूर्वक तोड़ दिया गया। दुर्भागयवश, अधिकतर लोगों को मुआवज़ा दिए बिना ही वहाँ से खदेड़ा जा रहा है। इस के साथ इसमें अन्य राहत शिवरों में पीड़ितों के भय को भी दिखाया जा रहा है।
October 11, 2013
Effective Act against Communal and Targeted Violence Needed - Dr John Dayal’s Statement at National Integration Council
[The following is the written statement delivered by Dr John Dayal, the Secretary-General of the All India Christian Council, at the National Integration Council meeting held in New Delhi on September 23, 2013.]
http://www.sacw.net/article5908.html
http://www.sacw.net/article5908.html
October 07, 2013
Life in A Refugee Camp Near Muzaffarnagar | India Ink - NY Times Blog
by PAMPOSH RAINA [7 Oct 2013]
A month after the riots broke out, about 24,000 people continue to live in refugee camps in the districts of Shamli and Muzaffarnagar, according to the state administration officials.
READ MORE HERE
A month after the riots broke out, about 24,000 people continue to live in refugee camps in the districts of Shamli and Muzaffarnagar, according to the state administration officials.
READ MORE HERE
October 05, 2013
India: Sadiq Naqvi's report on communal violence mass displacement in Muzaffarnagar
What is their Crime?
Meticulously planned and diabolically organised since a long time this year, the communal violence, killings, destruction and mass displacement in Muzaffarnagar and its neighbourhood villages clearly point to a sinister design to electorally polarize UP
Sadiq Naqvi Muzaffarnagar
- See more at: http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2013/10/6069
Meticulously planned and diabolically organised since a long time this year, the communal violence, killings, destruction and mass displacement in Muzaffarnagar and its neighbourhood villages clearly point to a sinister design to electorally polarize UP
Sadiq Naqvi Muzaffarnagar
- See more at: http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2013/10/6069
September 23, 2013
India: Report by fact-finding team of independent social activists, which visited relief camps of the survivors of the communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts
The Hindu,
NEW DELHI, September 23, 2013
“Cry for justice in Muzaffarnagar relief camps ”
Mohammad Ali
A fact-finding team of independent social activists, which visited relief camps of the survivors of the communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts, has indicted the Uttar Pradesh Government for “abdicating its responsibility for relief and rehabilitation in the aftermath of the communal riots, the way it abandoned its duty to provide security and protection to people during the communal carnage.”
The riot, which went on for a week, took around 50 lives and resulted in the displacement of more than 50,000 people, mostly those belonging to the minority community.
While the team has demanded immediate arrest of all those named in the FIRs, it has also appealed to the Union Government to table and pass the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill which has been languishing in Parliament.
The report was released by writer, activist and National Advisory Council member Farah Naqvi; Pushpa and Maheshwari from Vanangana (Chitrakoot); Askari Naqvi, Puneet, Meena and Azra from Rehnuma Adhikar Manch/ Sanatkada Samajik Pehel (Lucknow); Rehana Adeeb, Usman and Shadab from Astitva (Muzaffarnagar); Archana Dwivedi from Nirantar (Delhi); and Disha Mullick, from The Women, Media and News Trust (Delhi).
Describing some of the most heartrending stories by the survivors who left their homes and villages after being attacked, the report highlighted the denial of the State administration in recognising the urgency to act. The standard response of the local officials was that “things are getting back to normalcy”.
“There are simply thousands of terrified, trembling, desperate people sitting in relief camps, with the bare minimum facilities, with the overwhelming cry for justice, relief and rehabilitation, while the government remains mute spectator to the unfolding tragedy,” said the report, while arguing that ‘official’ numbers of those dead and internally displaced persons (IDPs) are a “gross underestimation.”
The report pointed out that a vast majority of displaced persons, whose fate remains uncertain, are poor Pasmanda (backward) Muslims like those belonging to D hobi, Ansari Teli, Lohar, Julahe, Faqir, Jogi and Lilgar castes.
The fact-finding team has demanded immediate relief and setting up of a rehabilitation commission, headed by a sitting High Court Judge, to oversee a comprehensive reparation plan for all the affected districts, including Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Baghpat, Saharanpur and Meerut.
The State administration has not even considered preparing village-wise lists of missing persons and has neither initiated processes for lodging of FIRs and complaints, assessing compensation for death, injury, destruction of property and planning rehabilitation, alleged the fact-finding team.
The team visited six relief camps in the two districts. In spite of reports of cases of hurried burial without any post-mortem, the State administration has no clue on how to deal with the cases, the team charged.
The report also highlights the need for providing help to survivors in pursuing legal justice, police desks in camps, lawyers on the ground in camps, medical check-ups and medico-legal intervention for sexual assault.
Another important need of the hour, said the report, was State security for people to visit their villages to assess damage, and a long-term plan of providing safety and security for survivors who want to go back to their villages.
NEW DELHI, September 23, 2013
“Cry for justice in Muzaffarnagar relief camps ”
Mohammad Ali
A fact-finding team of independent social activists, which visited relief camps of the survivors of the communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts, has indicted the Uttar Pradesh Government for “abdicating its responsibility for relief and rehabilitation in the aftermath of the communal riots, the way it abandoned its duty to provide security and protection to people during the communal carnage.”
The riot, which went on for a week, took around 50 lives and resulted in the displacement of more than 50,000 people, mostly those belonging to the minority community.
While the team has demanded immediate arrest of all those named in the FIRs, it has also appealed to the Union Government to table and pass the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill which has been languishing in Parliament.
The report was released by writer, activist and National Advisory Council member Farah Naqvi; Pushpa and Maheshwari from Vanangana (Chitrakoot); Askari Naqvi, Puneet, Meena and Azra from Rehnuma Adhikar Manch/ Sanatkada Samajik Pehel (Lucknow); Rehana Adeeb, Usman and Shadab from Astitva (Muzaffarnagar); Archana Dwivedi from Nirantar (Delhi); and Disha Mullick, from The Women, Media and News Trust (Delhi).
Describing some of the most heartrending stories by the survivors who left their homes and villages after being attacked, the report highlighted the denial of the State administration in recognising the urgency to act. The standard response of the local officials was that “things are getting back to normalcy”.
“There are simply thousands of terrified, trembling, desperate people sitting in relief camps, with the bare minimum facilities, with the overwhelming cry for justice, relief and rehabilitation, while the government remains mute spectator to the unfolding tragedy,” said the report, while arguing that ‘official’ numbers of those dead and internally displaced persons (IDPs) are a “gross underestimation.”
The report pointed out that a vast majority of displaced persons, whose fate remains uncertain, are poor Pasmanda (backward) Muslims like those belonging to D hobi, Ansari Teli, Lohar, Julahe, Faqir, Jogi and Lilgar castes.
The fact-finding team has demanded immediate relief and setting up of a rehabilitation commission, headed by a sitting High Court Judge, to oversee a comprehensive reparation plan for all the affected districts, including Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Baghpat, Saharanpur and Meerut.
The State administration has not even considered preparing village-wise lists of missing persons and has neither initiated processes for lodging of FIRs and complaints, assessing compensation for death, injury, destruction of property and planning rehabilitation, alleged the fact-finding team.
The team visited six relief camps in the two districts. In spite of reports of cases of hurried burial without any post-mortem, the State administration has no clue on how to deal with the cases, the team charged.
The report also highlights the need for providing help to survivors in pursuing legal justice, police desks in camps, lawyers on the ground in camps, medical check-ups and medico-legal intervention for sexual assault.
Another important need of the hour, said the report, was State security for people to visit their villages to assess damage, and a long-term plan of providing safety and security for survivors who want to go back to their villages.
September 17, 2013
Violence by Political Design | Report of CPA initiated fact finding team on Muzaffarnagar violence
This fact-finding exercise was coordinated by the Centre for Policy Analysis. Team members were the human rights activist and former civil servant Harsh Mander, former Director-General of the Border Security Force, E N Rammohan, Professor Kamal Mitra Chenoy of Jawaharlal Nehru University, National Integration Council member John Dayal, senior journalist Sukumar Muralidharan and CPA Director and senior editor Seema Mustafa.
http://www.sacw.net/article5612.html
http://www.sacw.net/article5612.html
September 12, 2013
India Muzaffarnagar riots: Scared villagers continue to move to safer areas (Indian Express Photos)
Selected photos from Indian Express by Ravi Kanojia.
To see all photos go to:
http://www.indianexpress.com/picture-gallery/muzaffarnagar-riots-scared-villagers-continue-to-move-to-safer-areas/3386-1.html
To see all photos go to:
http://www.indianexpress.com/picture-gallery/muzaffarnagar-riots-scared-villagers-continue-to-move-to-safer-areas/3386-1.html
India: UP riots pushing jats towards BJP? | Over 10,000 displaced
From: The Times of India
UP riots pushing jats towards BJP?
Rakhi Chakrabarty, TNN | Sep 12, 2013, 05.35 AM IST
A security person keeps vigil at Kawal village from where the communal riots started in Muzaffarnagar district.
MUZAFFARNAGAR (Western UP): The Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid churn couldn't shake the jats' loyalty to Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal. Equally, the Muslims remained steadfast in their support for Mulayam Singh Yadav all these years. But this time around, these strong support bases appear to be developing cracks.
While SP, the ruling party in UP, is being blamed by Muslims for failing to protect them and, in some cases, for a collusive role in fomenting riots, the jats seem to be going with other Hindus and are looking up to BJP's Narendra Modi as their saviour from the state government's "misrule".
Needless to say, these fresh pulls could have a deep impact in the coming Lok Sabha election. It is clear that the riots have benefitted the BJP the most. It is also clear that the losers are Samajwadi Party and RLD.
In villages across Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts, the common refrain among a substantial section of Hindus is, "Modi lao, desh bachao." Even RLD and Congress workers are singing paeans in praise of Modi while spewing venom against the Muslims and parties that "favour" them.
The riots in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli are bearing out what has often been said of Modi: that his is a polarizing presence.
A young Muslim IPS officer, who was tainted as communal and partisan, was transferred out after a sustained campaign. "He was targeted because he belongs to a particular community. I have known him to be neutral," said a senior IPS officer of UP. Similar views about the young officer were echoed by several officials as well as by government doctors.
Seeds of mistrust are fast fraying the chord that united the jats and the Muslims, a potent electoral combine, for decades. Provocative speeches from a series of panchayat meets, sustained campaigns about SP's minority appeasement policies, and painting the Muslims as "undesirable elements", have steadily chiseled away this joint plank.
The Muslims have been worst hit in the current riots, admitted a senior police officer. "Riots were never so bad in this region. Never have riots forced hundreds of Muslims to flee their homes and live in refugee camps. It seems like India-Pakistan in the villages," said a senior UP official.
Bijender Singh Malik, pradhan of Muzaffarnagar's Kharar village, saved 150 Muslims from rioters and gave them shelter in his house. Malik, a jat, is an avowed RLD supporter and has also voted for SP. He conceded that BJP never could make any headway in this region, not even during the Babri Masjid phase. But, he too, like almost all the Hindus of Kharar and neighbouring Fugana, has decided to vote for Modi.
His views find strong resonance throughout the riot-hit region. Though government records prove beyond doubt that Muslims were the worst hit and that most killed in the riots are Muslims, the plight of the community doesn't appear to evoke sympathy among the Hindus. And that's a bigger wound that won't heal easily.
o o o
SEE ALSO:
Muzaffarnagar violence: Over 10,000 displaced; 10,000 arrested
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Muzaffarnagar-violence-Over-10000-displaced-10000-arrested/articleshow/22499187.cms
UP riots pushing jats towards BJP?
Rakhi Chakrabarty, TNN | Sep 12, 2013, 05.35 AM IST
A security person keeps vigil at Kawal village from where the communal riots started in Muzaffarnagar district.
MUZAFFARNAGAR (Western UP): The Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid churn couldn't shake the jats' loyalty to Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal. Equally, the Muslims remained steadfast in their support for Mulayam Singh Yadav all these years. But this time around, these strong support bases appear to be developing cracks.
While SP, the ruling party in UP, is being blamed by Muslims for failing to protect them and, in some cases, for a collusive role in fomenting riots, the jats seem to be going with other Hindus and are looking up to BJP's Narendra Modi as their saviour from the state government's "misrule".
Needless to say, these fresh pulls could have a deep impact in the coming Lok Sabha election. It is clear that the riots have benefitted the BJP the most. It is also clear that the losers are Samajwadi Party and RLD.
In villages across Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts, the common refrain among a substantial section of Hindus is, "Modi lao, desh bachao." Even RLD and Congress workers are singing paeans in praise of Modi while spewing venom against the Muslims and parties that "favour" them.
The riots in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli are bearing out what has often been said of Modi: that his is a polarizing presence.
A young Muslim IPS officer, who was tainted as communal and partisan, was transferred out after a sustained campaign. "He was targeted because he belongs to a particular community. I have known him to be neutral," said a senior IPS officer of UP. Similar views about the young officer were echoed by several officials as well as by government doctors.
Seeds of mistrust are fast fraying the chord that united the jats and the Muslims, a potent electoral combine, for decades. Provocative speeches from a series of panchayat meets, sustained campaigns about SP's minority appeasement policies, and painting the Muslims as "undesirable elements", have steadily chiseled away this joint plank.
The Muslims have been worst hit in the current riots, admitted a senior police officer. "Riots were never so bad in this region. Never have riots forced hundreds of Muslims to flee their homes and live in refugee camps. It seems like India-Pakistan in the villages," said a senior UP official.
Bijender Singh Malik, pradhan of Muzaffarnagar's Kharar village, saved 150 Muslims from rioters and gave them shelter in his house. Malik, a jat, is an avowed RLD supporter and has also voted for SP. He conceded that BJP never could make any headway in this region, not even during the Babri Masjid phase. But, he too, like almost all the Hindus of Kharar and neighbouring Fugana, has decided to vote for Modi.
His views find strong resonance throughout the riot-hit region. Though government records prove beyond doubt that Muslims were the worst hit and that most killed in the riots are Muslims, the plight of the community doesn't appear to evoke sympathy among the Hindus. And that's a bigger wound that won't heal easily.
o o o
SEE ALSO:
Muzaffarnagar violence: Over 10,000 displaced; 10,000 arrested
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Muzaffarnagar-violence-Over-10000-displaced-10000-arrested/articleshow/22499187.cms
November 07, 2012
Assam riots of 2012: Displaced families in Kokrajhar struggle
From: The Hindu
BHOWRAGURI (KOKRAJHAR), November 7, 2012
Displaced families in Kokrajhar struggle to rebuild their lives
by Sushanta Talukdar
Compensation and ration inadequate, feel people of BTAD
Houses and granaries were razed, cattle and other livestock looted and hand tube-well heads taken away when violent clashes broke out in July in Kokrajhar and neighbouring districts of Assam forcing people to take shelter in relief camps.
After nearly three months’ stay in relief camps, the refugees have now returned home, thanks to the official rehabilitation process, with 21 tin sheets, a tarpaulin sheet, six pieces of bamboo, a cheque for Rs. 22,700 as rehabilitation grant and ration of rice, dal and salt to last them just a month. Most of these families have only one piece of blanket and no woollens though winter is knocking at the door.
Thousands of displaced families in Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) who have returned home are now grappling with endless woes of rehabilitation.
Yet to get grant
More than a week since their return from the camps, the displaced families of Dangaibari, the Muslim villages and Aminkhata and the nearby Bodo villages in Kokrajhar district have not been able to start any new cultivation. For, there are no cattle left and the miscreants have taken away tractors, power tillers and shallow tubewell pumpsets. Many families are yet to get the rehabilitation grant, while some who got it don’t have bank accounts to encash them.
At Dangaibari village, some families have constructed makeshift shelters with tarpaulin sheets and bamboos on their land. Some others have built a cluster of such shelters in an open area.
Village headman Sumer Ali told The Hindu on Monday that of the 74 families in the village, only 29 figure in the list for grant. Only 13 families have received the cheques and tin sheets. “We don’t know how to rebuild our lives. We are farmers but now we have no means to resume agricultural activities,” he said. “Every family has lost at least three or four houses. The materials and rehabilitation grant are inadequate even to build one semi-permanent structure to accommodate all the family members.”
Village anganwadi worker Sakila Khatun has reopened the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) centre in the village. She said that about 100 children now regularly attend the centre, but they were not being provided food because miscreants had taken away all the utensils.
Tales of woe
The stories of 58-year-old headman Lalmohan Goyari and other residents of Aminkhata Bodo village are no different. “The miscreants took away the cattle, tractors and power tillers after razing our houses. How will we till our land now?” asks Mr. Goyari. His wife was seen clearing the debris and clearing the land for building a makeshift shelter. So far, 72 of the 133 families whose houses were destroyed have received rehabilitation grants.
The womenfolk and children of Aminkhata and adjacent Bodo villages are still staying in the Gambaribil relief camp although the authorities have closed it down. “The women come to the village to help clear the debris till 3 p.m. and then return to the camp. They can return only after some makeshift structure is raised,” said Mr. Goyari.
Be it Bodo or Muslim villages, the fear of fresh attack still lingers. Despite round-the-clock patrolling by contingents of the CRPF, the villagers are taking turns as night guards and sleep in groups.
A waiting shed at one entrance to Aminkhata village is the point where Muslims of nearby villages are allowed to come and discuss mutual issues with the village headman and other residents of the Bodo village. “We have agreed to divide the harvest from the paddy fields 50:50 with those from the nearby Muslim villages who worked as sharecroppers in our fields and cultivated paddy,” said Mr. Goyari, owner of 52 bigha of cultivable land.
However, the Bodo villages have clamped a ban on commercial transactions such as buying or selling of vegetables or other produce at the village markets with the residents of the nearby Muslim villages.
BHOWRAGURI (KOKRAJHAR), November 7, 2012
Displaced families in Kokrajhar struggle to rebuild their lives
by Sushanta Talukdar
Compensation and ration inadequate, feel people of BTAD
Houses and granaries were razed, cattle and other livestock looted and hand tube-well heads taken away when violent clashes broke out in July in Kokrajhar and neighbouring districts of Assam forcing people to take shelter in relief camps.
After nearly three months’ stay in relief camps, the refugees have now returned home, thanks to the official rehabilitation process, with 21 tin sheets, a tarpaulin sheet, six pieces of bamboo, a cheque for Rs. 22,700 as rehabilitation grant and ration of rice, dal and salt to last them just a month. Most of these families have only one piece of blanket and no woollens though winter is knocking at the door.
Thousands of displaced families in Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) who have returned home are now grappling with endless woes of rehabilitation.
Yet to get grant
More than a week since their return from the camps, the displaced families of Dangaibari, the Muslim villages and Aminkhata and the nearby Bodo villages in Kokrajhar district have not been able to start any new cultivation. For, there are no cattle left and the miscreants have taken away tractors, power tillers and shallow tubewell pumpsets. Many families are yet to get the rehabilitation grant, while some who got it don’t have bank accounts to encash them.
At Dangaibari village, some families have constructed makeshift shelters with tarpaulin sheets and bamboos on their land. Some others have built a cluster of such shelters in an open area.
Village headman Sumer Ali told The Hindu on Monday that of the 74 families in the village, only 29 figure in the list for grant. Only 13 families have received the cheques and tin sheets. “We don’t know how to rebuild our lives. We are farmers but now we have no means to resume agricultural activities,” he said. “Every family has lost at least three or four houses. The materials and rehabilitation grant are inadequate even to build one semi-permanent structure to accommodate all the family members.”
Village anganwadi worker Sakila Khatun has reopened the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) centre in the village. She said that about 100 children now regularly attend the centre, but they were not being provided food because miscreants had taken away all the utensils.
Tales of woe
The stories of 58-year-old headman Lalmohan Goyari and other residents of Aminkhata Bodo village are no different. “The miscreants took away the cattle, tractors and power tillers after razing our houses. How will we till our land now?” asks Mr. Goyari. His wife was seen clearing the debris and clearing the land for building a makeshift shelter. So far, 72 of the 133 families whose houses were destroyed have received rehabilitation grants.
The womenfolk and children of Aminkhata and adjacent Bodo villages are still staying in the Gambaribil relief camp although the authorities have closed it down. “The women come to the village to help clear the debris till 3 p.m. and then return to the camp. They can return only after some makeshift structure is raised,” said Mr. Goyari.
Be it Bodo or Muslim villages, the fear of fresh attack still lingers. Despite round-the-clock patrolling by contingents of the CRPF, the villagers are taking turns as night guards and sleep in groups.
A waiting shed at one entrance to Aminkhata village is the point where Muslims of nearby villages are allowed to come and discuss mutual issues with the village headman and other residents of the Bodo village. “We have agreed to divide the harvest from the paddy fields 50:50 with those from the nearby Muslim villages who worked as sharecroppers in our fields and cultivated paddy,” said Mr. Goyari, owner of 52 bigha of cultivable land.
However, the Bodo villages have clamped a ban on commercial transactions such as buying or selling of vegetables or other produce at the village markets with the residents of the nearby Muslim villages.
October 20, 2012
Assam: Bodo riots - Victims speak
From: The Week
ASSAM
Bodo riots: Victims speak
By Rabi Banerjee
Story Dated: Tuesday, October 16, 2012 11:44 hrs IST
Four and a half lakh people, including newborns, were displaced by the riots in Kokrajhar.
Jomila Bibi gave birth to a baby girl a few hours before Bodo rioters attacked her house at Jauliapara in Kokrajhar. The Bengali woman ran for her life, carrying the newborn and crossed a river to reach Lakshmigunj, a Muslim-dominated village, braving the trauma of delivery.
In a cruel twist of fate, she ended up at a primary health clinic in Lakhsmigunj, where the only doctor was a Bodo. “I told the doctor that my daughter had fever and couldn't breath properly. But he told me there was nothing to worry and to take her back home,” said Jomila.
Quite out of context, the doctor asked her whether she had named the baby. A bewildered Jomila answered that she never got the time to. He suggested that she name the baby Hujuki, as she was born during hujuk (Bengali for commotion).
“I was speechless. I had gone to him to get my daughter treated and he was busy naming her,” she said.
Hujuki's condition worsened after they reached the relief camp at Lakshmigacha primary school. Jomila took her baby back to the clinic twice. “But the doctor refused to get her admitted,” she said. Hujuki died in the relief camp in less than a week.
Her death sparked a fury in the camp. There were massive protests outside the health centre and the authorities were forced to get four ailing babies admitted. However, a fortnight later, as the protests died down, the babies were shifted back to the relief camps.
“The Assam government simply toed the Bodo line and deprived us of all sort of help,” said Shaukat Ali, another riot victim. “The baby died and the government health centre did nothing. They follow the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), which orchestrated the attack on us.”
The riots of Kokrajhar displaced around 4.5 lakh people, some of them Bodos, from lower Assam. While lakhs of Muslims were sheltered in primary schools with no breathing space or medical attention, Bodo victims were, reportedly, treated differently in the relief camps organised by the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District that falls under the BTC.
They were sheltered in engineering colleges, nursing colleges and other new buildings in the area, and were provided medical vans equipped with a medical team and enough stock of medicines. While the Muslims were served rice and dal, the Bodos were fed with nutritious vegetables and eggs.
According to eyewitness accounts, on July 20, when the first batch of Muslims were driven out of Kokrajhar by angry Bodo activists, not a single Bodo was attacked. Bodo tribals themselves admit that it was only when the houses were burnt and the crops looted that the Muslims started retaliating.
“Our houses were not burnt, nor looted. The Muslims asked us to get out of the village and we just did so,” said Geeta Brahmma, a homemaker, who found refuge at a nursing centre.
But Bodos like Geeta do not want to go back to their villages as they are now filled with Muslim riot victims. They want Muslims to be sent back to their original homes so that all of them can live in peace.
This has become a major issue as Bodo leaders are vehemently opposing Muslims returning to their villages without proper scrutiny. “We will definitely appeal to the Assam government to scrutinise these people. Only if they are found to have been living here for a sufficiently long time should they be allowed to stay back. Otherwise they should be recognised as infiltrators,” said Promod Boro, president of the All Bodo Students' Union.
The riots were not communal, but were given a false religious colour, said Boro. “It was only a movement against an anti-national force, which suddenly turned violent,” Boro told THE WEEK.
However hard Boro and his men try to portray the riots as non-communal, they will not be able to convince many like Jasimuddin Sheikh, who used to live in Joypur, Kokrajhar. “Seventeen mosques and 20 makeshift madrasas in my village were destroyed. If not communal, what else should I call it, saab?” asked Jasimuddin, at a relief camp.
“Whenever I close my eyes I can see thousands of people rushing to me with guns and petrol, setting my house on fire, and dragging me out of the house by my shirt collar,” he said. Muslims are refusing to go back to their villages, even though the state government and local Bodo authorities are trying to talk them into doing so.
“We will not go back to our village unless our demands are met. We want our safety, security and property back. We also want continuous monetary support for at least five years. Till then we will stay in the relief camps,” said Mohd Sukur Ali, at the Lakshmigacha relief camp.
The Muslims have another demand. “The Assam government owes us an apology. They will have to give us a written declaration that they would never let the Bodos attack us again,” said Ali.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has, reportedly, initiated talks with Muslim and Bodo leaders, to try and convince them for a patch-up.
ASSAM
Bodo riots: Victims speak
By Rabi Banerjee
Story Dated: Tuesday, October 16, 2012 11:44 hrs IST
Four and a half lakh people, including newborns, were displaced by the riots in Kokrajhar.
Jomila Bibi gave birth to a baby girl a few hours before Bodo rioters attacked her house at Jauliapara in Kokrajhar. The Bengali woman ran for her life, carrying the newborn and crossed a river to reach Lakshmigunj, a Muslim-dominated village, braving the trauma of delivery.
In a cruel twist of fate, she ended up at a primary health clinic in Lakhsmigunj, where the only doctor was a Bodo. “I told the doctor that my daughter had fever and couldn't breath properly. But he told me there was nothing to worry and to take her back home,” said Jomila.
Quite out of context, the doctor asked her whether she had named the baby. A bewildered Jomila answered that she never got the time to. He suggested that she name the baby Hujuki, as she was born during hujuk (Bengali for commotion).
“I was speechless. I had gone to him to get my daughter treated and he was busy naming her,” she said.
Hujuki's condition worsened after they reached the relief camp at Lakshmigacha primary school. Jomila took her baby back to the clinic twice. “But the doctor refused to get her admitted,” she said. Hujuki died in the relief camp in less than a week.
Her death sparked a fury in the camp. There were massive protests outside the health centre and the authorities were forced to get four ailing babies admitted. However, a fortnight later, as the protests died down, the babies were shifted back to the relief camps.
“The Assam government simply toed the Bodo line and deprived us of all sort of help,” said Shaukat Ali, another riot victim. “The baby died and the government health centre did nothing. They follow the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), which orchestrated the attack on us.”
The riots of Kokrajhar displaced around 4.5 lakh people, some of them Bodos, from lower Assam. While lakhs of Muslims were sheltered in primary schools with no breathing space or medical attention, Bodo victims were, reportedly, treated differently in the relief camps organised by the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District that falls under the BTC.
They were sheltered in engineering colleges, nursing colleges and other new buildings in the area, and were provided medical vans equipped with a medical team and enough stock of medicines. While the Muslims were served rice and dal, the Bodos were fed with nutritious vegetables and eggs.
According to eyewitness accounts, on July 20, when the first batch of Muslims were driven out of Kokrajhar by angry Bodo activists, not a single Bodo was attacked. Bodo tribals themselves admit that it was only when the houses were burnt and the crops looted that the Muslims started retaliating.
“Our houses were not burnt, nor looted. The Muslims asked us to get out of the village and we just did so,” said Geeta Brahmma, a homemaker, who found refuge at a nursing centre.
But Bodos like Geeta do not want to go back to their villages as they are now filled with Muslim riot victims. They want Muslims to be sent back to their original homes so that all of them can live in peace.
This has become a major issue as Bodo leaders are vehemently opposing Muslims returning to their villages without proper scrutiny. “We will definitely appeal to the Assam government to scrutinise these people. Only if they are found to have been living here for a sufficiently long time should they be allowed to stay back. Otherwise they should be recognised as infiltrators,” said Promod Boro, president of the All Bodo Students' Union.
The riots were not communal, but were given a false religious colour, said Boro. “It was only a movement against an anti-national force, which suddenly turned violent,” Boro told THE WEEK.
However hard Boro and his men try to portray the riots as non-communal, they will not be able to convince many like Jasimuddin Sheikh, who used to live in Joypur, Kokrajhar. “Seventeen mosques and 20 makeshift madrasas in my village were destroyed. If not communal, what else should I call it, saab?” asked Jasimuddin, at a relief camp.
“Whenever I close my eyes I can see thousands of people rushing to me with guns and petrol, setting my house on fire, and dragging me out of the house by my shirt collar,” he said. Muslims are refusing to go back to their villages, even though the state government and local Bodo authorities are trying to talk them into doing so.
“We will not go back to our village unless our demands are met. We want our safety, security and property back. We also want continuous monetary support for at least five years. Till then we will stay in the relief camps,” said Mohd Sukur Ali, at the Lakshmigacha relief camp.
The Muslims have another demand. “The Assam government owes us an apology. They will have to give us a written declaration that they would never let the Bodos attack us again,” said Ali.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has, reportedly, initiated talks with Muslim and Bodo leaders, to try and convince them for a patch-up.
September 09, 2012
Assam: Refugees from hate
From: The Hindu
BAREFOOT
Refugees from hate
BY HARSH MANDER
Inside Assam’s relief camps…
Refugees from hate crowded in sparse makeshift spaces, cradling subdued, bewildered children. Sunken eyes, haunted with fear and grief. Reeking toilets, makeshift open stoves on bricks, a single change of clothes received in charity. Private sorrow exposed for public exhibition. Quiet weeping, nightmares, heavy silences laden with terrifying memories — of murderous mobs, burning homes, betrayal, loss and overnight destitution. Restive young people, whispering menacingly of fantasies of revenge. Dread, the unseen presence in every corner of the camp, battling the aching longing to return home.
I have seen many relief camps — too many, indeed, for several lifetimes. Camps which housed the survivors of the anti-Sikh carnage of 1984, persons attacked during the Babri agitation of the late 1980s and early 90s, people driven out of their homes by the brutal massacre in Gujarat in 2002, and by waves of violence against various ethnic groups in Assam.
More than 200 relief camps sprang up after ferocious violence convulsed Bodo regions this monsoon, driving nearly five lakh people from their homelands. I travelled recently to eight camps in Dhubri, Chirang and Kokrajhar districts of Lower Assam.
Similar stories
The narratives of the Bengali Muslim and Bodo refugees which I heard in these camps strikingly mirrored each other. They talked of neighbours of the ‘other’ community suddenly turning foes, burning their homes and fields, and looting their cattle and chicken. Some young men were shot or hacked to pieces. None acknowledged that men of their community had also attacked the ‘other’; they saw people of their community only as victims, not simultaneously as perpetrators of atrocities and arson. Such selective memory is intrinsic to the grammar of siege in relief camps everywhere.
There were the same terrible stories of flight, through dark nights, fugitives hiding in fields and forests, crossing swollen rivers, dreading fresh attacks. A woman wept as she recounted running for two days in her ninth month of pregnancy. She was nursing her emaciated baby born in the camp.
The one major difference in the stories told by the two communities was that the Bengali Muslims charged that the police deliberately stood by when they were attacked. “We have no orders to protect you”, they told the victims.
The camps were lodged in schools and college buildings; sometimes a few classrooms and a courtyard were temporary home to a few thousand people. Unlike in Gujarat in 2002, the Assam state government assumed full responsibility for the camps, and its officials coped with the sudden explosion of four to five lakh refugees. The state supplied food, a little money for utensils and clothes, and ensured primary health protection. But the camp residents complained that they could not live on just bare rice and dal everyday; they needed at least a plastic sheet to sleep on and mosquito nets; and the camps desperately required many more toilets and clean drinking water, the lack of which threatened epidemic outbreaks, of cholera, gastro-enteritis and malaria.
The state and humanitarian agencies — the latter culpably absent so far — must help people return and rebuild their homes, schools and livelihoods. From the peak of nearly five lakh residents in the camps, the numbers thinned to about half by the end of August 2012, when I visited the camps. But the official count of 2.35 lakh internal refugees still reflects a continuing, enormous humanitarian emergency. Those who returned are people who fled in fear but their homes were not destroyed. However, those whose habitats were set aflame and houses destroyed cannot think of returning home soon.
Teams of young men and boys from both Bodo and Bengali Muslim communities keep day and night vigil at their settlements, often brandishing arms. The entire region resembles a war zone. Armed soldiers patrol the regions, and a stray round of gun-fire or a stealthy assault with knives, or even rumours, are enough to set off a fresh round of arson and blood-letting.
Most affected
Children suffer a triple whammy. There are no arrangements to study in the camps, and most students lost their books to the fires that consumed their homes. Since most camps are housed in schools and colleges, local students cannot study. And adolescent boys and youth are recruited and armed to guard their villages.
Former Bodo militants flaunt automatic weapons, and there is evidence of a growing radicalisation of Bengali Muslim youth, reflected in violent protests and intemperate speeches. The major political parties — the weak-kneed Congress, the BJP, the AIUDF and the AGP — are all fishing in troubled waters. In this dangerous maelstrom, hotheads from both sides are holding maximalist positions. Bodos insist that Bengali Muslims must prove their Indian citizenship before they are ‘allowed’ by them to return to their villages. Bengali Muslims on the other hand demand the disbanding of the Bodo Tribal Council.
There are legitimate anxieties among the Bodo people that they will be culturally swamped and economically subordinated in their own historic homelands. At the same time, Bengali Muslims claim — and independent demographers bear them out — that the large majority of them are lawful Indian citizens; still, all Bengali Muslims are demonised as illegal ‘foreigners’. The descendants of Santhal tea garden labour brought in centuries back by colonial plantation owners and missionaries inhabit Bodo regions and have nowhere else to go. Many other indigenous tribal and caste-Hindu groups live here as well, part of the colourful tapestry of this achingly beautiful land.
I believe that a large silent majority on both sides of the dispute are ready for a peaceful search for solutions. They recognise that due legal process cannot be accomplished at gunpoint. People must first be assisted and supported to return home. We must find ways to disarm all civilians; rein in communal and violent elements; effectively seal international borders; and establish effective, transparent and lawful ways to identify illegal immigrants. But the long haul is to rebuild trust; and to affirm the rights of different people to live together, in Assam and in India, with mutual respect, while protecting local cultures and economies.
Without all of this, Assam will continue to bleed. And refugees from hate will search endlessly for a safe homeland.
BAREFOOT
Refugees from hate
BY HARSH MANDER
Inside Assam’s relief camps…
Refugees from hate crowded in sparse makeshift spaces, cradling subdued, bewildered children. Sunken eyes, haunted with fear and grief. Reeking toilets, makeshift open stoves on bricks, a single change of clothes received in charity. Private sorrow exposed for public exhibition. Quiet weeping, nightmares, heavy silences laden with terrifying memories — of murderous mobs, burning homes, betrayal, loss and overnight destitution. Restive young people, whispering menacingly of fantasies of revenge. Dread, the unseen presence in every corner of the camp, battling the aching longing to return home.
I have seen many relief camps — too many, indeed, for several lifetimes. Camps which housed the survivors of the anti-Sikh carnage of 1984, persons attacked during the Babri agitation of the late 1980s and early 90s, people driven out of their homes by the brutal massacre in Gujarat in 2002, and by waves of violence against various ethnic groups in Assam.
More than 200 relief camps sprang up after ferocious violence convulsed Bodo regions this monsoon, driving nearly five lakh people from their homelands. I travelled recently to eight camps in Dhubri, Chirang and Kokrajhar districts of Lower Assam.
Similar stories
The narratives of the Bengali Muslim and Bodo refugees which I heard in these camps strikingly mirrored each other. They talked of neighbours of the ‘other’ community suddenly turning foes, burning their homes and fields, and looting their cattle and chicken. Some young men were shot or hacked to pieces. None acknowledged that men of their community had also attacked the ‘other’; they saw people of their community only as victims, not simultaneously as perpetrators of atrocities and arson. Such selective memory is intrinsic to the grammar of siege in relief camps everywhere.
There were the same terrible stories of flight, through dark nights, fugitives hiding in fields and forests, crossing swollen rivers, dreading fresh attacks. A woman wept as she recounted running for two days in her ninth month of pregnancy. She was nursing her emaciated baby born in the camp.
The one major difference in the stories told by the two communities was that the Bengali Muslims charged that the police deliberately stood by when they were attacked. “We have no orders to protect you”, they told the victims.
The camps were lodged in schools and college buildings; sometimes a few classrooms and a courtyard were temporary home to a few thousand people. Unlike in Gujarat in 2002, the Assam state government assumed full responsibility for the camps, and its officials coped with the sudden explosion of four to five lakh refugees. The state supplied food, a little money for utensils and clothes, and ensured primary health protection. But the camp residents complained that they could not live on just bare rice and dal everyday; they needed at least a plastic sheet to sleep on and mosquito nets; and the camps desperately required many more toilets and clean drinking water, the lack of which threatened epidemic outbreaks, of cholera, gastro-enteritis and malaria.
The state and humanitarian agencies — the latter culpably absent so far — must help people return and rebuild their homes, schools and livelihoods. From the peak of nearly five lakh residents in the camps, the numbers thinned to about half by the end of August 2012, when I visited the camps. But the official count of 2.35 lakh internal refugees still reflects a continuing, enormous humanitarian emergency. Those who returned are people who fled in fear but their homes were not destroyed. However, those whose habitats were set aflame and houses destroyed cannot think of returning home soon.
Teams of young men and boys from both Bodo and Bengali Muslim communities keep day and night vigil at their settlements, often brandishing arms. The entire region resembles a war zone. Armed soldiers patrol the regions, and a stray round of gun-fire or a stealthy assault with knives, or even rumours, are enough to set off a fresh round of arson and blood-letting.
Most affected
Children suffer a triple whammy. There are no arrangements to study in the camps, and most students lost their books to the fires that consumed their homes. Since most camps are housed in schools and colleges, local students cannot study. And adolescent boys and youth are recruited and armed to guard their villages.
Former Bodo militants flaunt automatic weapons, and there is evidence of a growing radicalisation of Bengali Muslim youth, reflected in violent protests and intemperate speeches. The major political parties — the weak-kneed Congress, the BJP, the AIUDF and the AGP — are all fishing in troubled waters. In this dangerous maelstrom, hotheads from both sides are holding maximalist positions. Bodos insist that Bengali Muslims must prove their Indian citizenship before they are ‘allowed’ by them to return to their villages. Bengali Muslims on the other hand demand the disbanding of the Bodo Tribal Council.
There are legitimate anxieties among the Bodo people that they will be culturally swamped and economically subordinated in their own historic homelands. At the same time, Bengali Muslims claim — and independent demographers bear them out — that the large majority of them are lawful Indian citizens; still, all Bengali Muslims are demonised as illegal ‘foreigners’. The descendants of Santhal tea garden labour brought in centuries back by colonial plantation owners and missionaries inhabit Bodo regions and have nowhere else to go. Many other indigenous tribal and caste-Hindu groups live here as well, part of the colourful tapestry of this achingly beautiful land.
I believe that a large silent majority on both sides of the dispute are ready for a peaceful search for solutions. They recognise that due legal process cannot be accomplished at gunpoint. People must first be assisted and supported to return home. We must find ways to disarm all civilians; rein in communal and violent elements; effectively seal international borders; and establish effective, transparent and lawful ways to identify illegal immigrants. But the long haul is to rebuild trust; and to affirm the rights of different people to live together, in Assam and in India, with mutual respect, while protecting local cultures and economies.
Without all of this, Assam will continue to bleed. And refugees from hate will search endlessly for a safe homeland.
July 24, 2012
Reports on riots in Assam
Army called out in Assam as violence escalates
The situation in the conflict-hit Kokrajhar district deteriorated on Tuesday, snapping the rail link between Assam and the rest of the country. Miscreants among the Bodos and Muslims, leading rioting mobs, continued to torch more houses
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article3678009.ece?homepage=true
Assam riots toll rises to 32; more than 70,000 flee homes
Naresh Mitra & Simang Daimary
In relief camps, overcast skies, billowing smoke, and pale faces of hundreds of people huddled in groups spoke of the scale of the human tragedy.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Assam-riots-toll-rises-to-32-more-than-70000-flee-homes/articleshow/15127887.cms
The situation in the conflict-hit Kokrajhar district deteriorated on Tuesday, snapping the rail link between Assam and the rest of the country. Miscreants among the Bodos and Muslims, leading rioting mobs, continued to torch more houses
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article3678009.ece?homepage=true
Assam riots toll rises to 32; more than 70,000 flee homes
Naresh Mitra & Simang Daimary
In relief camps, overcast skies, billowing smoke, and pale faces of hundreds of people huddled in groups spoke of the scale of the human tragedy.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Assam-riots-toll-rises-to-32-more-than-70000-flee-homes/articleshow/15127887.cms
April 14, 2012
CFP: Salvage and Salvation: Religion, Disaster Relief, and Reconstruction in Asia
H-ASIA
April 13, 2012
CFP - Salvage and Salvation: Religion, Disaster Relief, and Reconstruction
in Asia
******************************************************************
From: "Levi McLaughlin"
CALL FOR PAPERS – Salvage and Salvation: Religion, Disaster Relief,
and Reconstruction in Asia.
Dates: 22 (Thursday) and 23 (Friday) November 2012
Venue: Asia Research Institute
Seminar Room
Tower Block Level 10, 469A Bukit Timah Road
National University of Singapore
Bukit Timah Campus
Organisers: Dr. Philip Fountain
Dr. Levi McLaughlin
What does it mean to offer salvation in the midst of catastrophe? What
dynamics are in play at the intersection of religion and disaster
relief in Asia? Over the past few years, Asia has witnessed frequent
massive and high profile disasters, notably the Indian Ocean tsunami
(2004), the Kashmir earthquake (2005), Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar
(2008), the Pakistan floods of 2010, and most recently the 2011
earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters in northeast Japan. In the
wake of these tragedies – and the numerous smaller-scale disasters
that also afflict the region – religious organizations have played
pivotal roles in disaster response initiatives. Millions of relief
workers and billions of dollars in aid have been mobilized through
their networks. However, despite having a profound impact on the lives
of disaster victims, these initiatives have gone largely
under-reported, and there has been no comprehensive attempt to present
research on religion and relief in contemporary Asia. ‘Salvage and
Salvation’ will be the first interdisciplinary conference to bring
together researchers, humanitarian workers, and policy makers to
address this theme.
Analysis of religion and disaster relief introduces practical and
theoretical concerns. Understanding the full ramifications of disaster
requires attention to specific religions involved in recovery and the
different positions they assume. Additionally, it cannot be presumed
that Asian states are religiously neutral. Disasters and relief
efforts open new forms of communality among affected populations,
thereby altering religion and politics and inspiring novel social and
spiritual trajectories. Humanitarian actors and grassroots
mobilizations are also deeply implicated in these shifts. Even
self-consciously secular humanitarian organizations inevitably engage
with the religious realities they encounter in their disaster
responses through varying strategies of collaboration, accommodation,
or exclusion of different religious activities. A region-wide
comparative approach to disaster and recovery should be concerned with
the broadest possible spectrum of what ‘salvation’ may comprise,
whether associated with the state or non-governmental actors or
whether designated ‘religious’ or ‘secular.’
We are seeking paper presentation proposals that will address the
following topics (and related themes) as they relate to the Asian
region:
• Analysis of the types of humanitarian work undertaken by Buddhist,
Christian, Hindu, Muslim, and other religious groups in response to
disasters, including rescue operations, medical and post-traumatic
care, fundraising, reconstruction, mitigation, proselytizing,
spiritual counseling, and other interventions
• Doctrinal, ritual, clerical, and/or institutional innovations
occasioned by religious disaster responses
• Imaginations and perceptions of religion by state actors and
humanitarian organizations
• Collaborations between religious organizations, state actors,
humanitarian organizations, and community groups in disaster response
initiatives
• Emerging transnational networks forged between religious groups,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), donor organizations, and other
actors engaged in disaster responses
• Reconfigurations of local communities following religious and/or
secular disaster relief initiatives
• Contrasting visions of ‘salvation’ offered in response to disasters
and the ramifications of these visions
Papers from any field in the humanities or social sciences that employ
any type of methodology are welcome. We are particularly interested in
submissions that employ data from fieldwork. Analytical papers by
development practitioners or representatives of religious
institutions/groups drawing on field experience relevant to this topic
are also encouraged.
SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
Paper proposals must be for original, previously unpublished work.
Selected papers from the conference proceedings will be compiled for
an edited volume. Proposals should include a title, abstract (250-300
words), and a brief personal biography (150 words). For more detailed
guidelines or questions regarding specific paper proposals, and for
obtaining a Paper Proposal Form, please contact the conference
organizers.
Please submit all applications to Dr Philip Fountain
(aripmf@nus.edu.sg) by 15 May 2012. Successful applicants will be
notified by 15 June 2012 and will be required to send a draft paper
(5,000-8,000 words) by 15 October 2012. Travel and accommodation
support is available from the Asia Research Institute, depending on
need and availability of funds.
CONTACT DETAILS
Conference Convenors
Dr Philip FOUNTAIN aripmf@nus.edu.sg
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
Dr Levi MCLAUGHLIN lmclaug2@ncsu.edu
North Carolina State University
SECRETARIAT
Ms. Valerie Yeo
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
Email: valerie.yeo@nus.edu.sg
April 13, 2012
CFP - Salvage and Salvation: Religion, Disaster Relief, and Reconstruction
in Asia
******************************************************************
From: "Levi McLaughlin"
CALL FOR PAPERS – Salvage and Salvation: Religion, Disaster Relief,
and Reconstruction in Asia.
Dates: 22 (Thursday) and 23 (Friday) November 2012
Venue: Asia Research Institute
Seminar Room
Tower Block Level 10, 469A Bukit Timah Road
National University of Singapore
Bukit Timah Campus
Organisers: Dr. Philip Fountain
Dr. Levi McLaughlin
What does it mean to offer salvation in the midst of catastrophe? What
dynamics are in play at the intersection of religion and disaster
relief in Asia? Over the past few years, Asia has witnessed frequent
massive and high profile disasters, notably the Indian Ocean tsunami
(2004), the Kashmir earthquake (2005), Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar
(2008), the Pakistan floods of 2010, and most recently the 2011
earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters in northeast Japan. In the
wake of these tragedies – and the numerous smaller-scale disasters
that also afflict the region – religious organizations have played
pivotal roles in disaster response initiatives. Millions of relief
workers and billions of dollars in aid have been mobilized through
their networks. However, despite having a profound impact on the lives
of disaster victims, these initiatives have gone largely
under-reported, and there has been no comprehensive attempt to present
research on religion and relief in contemporary Asia. ‘Salvage and
Salvation’ will be the first interdisciplinary conference to bring
together researchers, humanitarian workers, and policy makers to
address this theme.
Analysis of religion and disaster relief introduces practical and
theoretical concerns. Understanding the full ramifications of disaster
requires attention to specific religions involved in recovery and the
different positions they assume. Additionally, it cannot be presumed
that Asian states are religiously neutral. Disasters and relief
efforts open new forms of communality among affected populations,
thereby altering religion and politics and inspiring novel social and
spiritual trajectories. Humanitarian actors and grassroots
mobilizations are also deeply implicated in these shifts. Even
self-consciously secular humanitarian organizations inevitably engage
with the religious realities they encounter in their disaster
responses through varying strategies of collaboration, accommodation,
or exclusion of different religious activities. A region-wide
comparative approach to disaster and recovery should be concerned with
the broadest possible spectrum of what ‘salvation’ may comprise,
whether associated with the state or non-governmental actors or
whether designated ‘religious’ or ‘secular.’
We are seeking paper presentation proposals that will address the
following topics (and related themes) as they relate to the Asian
region:
• Analysis of the types of humanitarian work undertaken by Buddhist,
Christian, Hindu, Muslim, and other religious groups in response to
disasters, including rescue operations, medical and post-traumatic
care, fundraising, reconstruction, mitigation, proselytizing,
spiritual counseling, and other interventions
• Doctrinal, ritual, clerical, and/or institutional innovations
occasioned by religious disaster responses
• Imaginations and perceptions of religion by state actors and
humanitarian organizations
• Collaborations between religious organizations, state actors,
humanitarian organizations, and community groups in disaster response
initiatives
• Emerging transnational networks forged between religious groups,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), donor organizations, and other
actors engaged in disaster responses
• Reconfigurations of local communities following religious and/or
secular disaster relief initiatives
• Contrasting visions of ‘salvation’ offered in response to disasters
and the ramifications of these visions
Papers from any field in the humanities or social sciences that employ
any type of methodology are welcome. We are particularly interested in
submissions that employ data from fieldwork. Analytical papers by
development practitioners or representatives of religious
institutions/groups drawing on field experience relevant to this topic
are also encouraged.
SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
Paper proposals must be for original, previously unpublished work.
Selected papers from the conference proceedings will be compiled for
an edited volume. Proposals should include a title, abstract (250-300
words), and a brief personal biography (150 words). For more detailed
guidelines or questions regarding specific paper proposals, and for
obtaining a Paper Proposal Form, please contact the conference
organizers.
Please submit all applications to Dr Philip Fountain
(aripmf@nus.edu.sg) by 15 May 2012. Successful applicants will be
notified by 15 June 2012 and will be required to send a draft paper
(5,000-8,000 words) by 15 October 2012. Travel and accommodation
support is available from the Asia Research Institute, depending on
need and availability of funds.
CONTACT DETAILS
Conference Convenors
Dr Philip FOUNTAIN aripmf@nus.edu.sg
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
Dr Levi MCLAUGHLIN lmclaug2@ncsu.edu
North Carolina State University
SECRETARIAT
Ms. Valerie Yeo
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
Email: valerie.yeo@nus.edu.sg
January 15, 2010
India: Survivors of Communal Violence In Kandhamal Under The Threat of Evacuation For Third Time
Around 100 survivors of communal violence, who have been staying in an abandoned NAC market complex at G. Udaygiri of Kandhamal district after the forcible closure of relief camps by the government, have been asked by the local administration to vacate the place. With the news of visit of a European Commission team to the region, the government have ordered to remove the people again as a part of its attempt to project that government had brought back normalcy in Kandhamal and violence affected people are living at their villages peacefully without any threat.
‘The BDO has asked us to vacate immediately and if we refuse police force will be used,’ said the worried survivors of Kandhamal violence. When the violence broke out on August 23, 2008, they were forced to leave their villages and their houses were burnt down. They had to take shelter in relief camps, but they were forced to leave from there also after the new BJD government come to power. Hence they had taken shelter in the market complex like beggars.
‘Where can we go with these two babies?’ asked a crying mother Ms. Menaka Nayak (25). Her youngest baby was born in the camp itself. ‘We can not go back to our village, because they will not allow us to live there if we do not convert to Hinduism. The government is not prepared to provide security and necessary help. On top of it they are trying to throw us out from here also’.
Mr. Moses Nayak, who has been prevented by the Hindu fundamentalists to come back to his village Ratingia as he had refused to change his religion unlike his two brothers, presently solely depends on daily wage based labour works, has no other options than to stay here. An elderly couple from R.Padikia village are also debarred to come back to their ancestral land as they failed to present their two ‘pastor’ sons before the communally motivated village mobs.
Following the dreadful communal violence around twenty thousand people have already migrated to different places outside Kandhamal. There are another five thousand people, who neither can afford to go outside nor can go back to their villages, living like refugees in various places of their home district. Although the district administration is claiming of ensuring security, peace and rehabilitation to the survivors, the reality speaks of a different story. The seventeen families from the villages such as R.Padikia, Kutuluma, Loharingia,Kilakia, Jimmangia, Dakedi, Kiramah, Ratingia staying in NAC market complex are virtually landless and legally not entitled to claim their house damage compensation as they do not have records of rights over the lands they used to have their houses since generations. Whoever have RoR over their small patches of homestead land, are debarred by fundamentalists to reconstruct their houses. Very few people were given compensation and again that amount was not more than Rs.10, 000.
‘Even after seventeen months, there is no indication of justice for the survivors of communal violence in Khandamal’, says Fr. Ajay, Director, Jana Vikas, an leading NGO in Kandhamal who represents National Centre for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) ‘There were 295 churches and 6,000 houses burnt down apart from schools, hospitals and other institutions. The victims are none other than poor adivasis and dalits. Urgent action is needed from the government to take care of the needs of the refugees of communalism who have been reduced to the level of beggars and second class citizens. This is not a matter of charity, but a fundamental right enshrined in the constitution of India’. The office building with other accessories belonging to Jana Vikas was one of the first to be burnt down on 25th August 2008.
‘It appears that the existence of refugees of communalism is threatening the image of the Orissa government’ says Dhirendra Panda, well known secular activist from Orissa. ‘That is the reason why they are trying to remove them instead of facilitating their security and rightful restoration’.
Mr.Sarat Nayak from Dakedi, a landless labour who can not go back to his village, complains of the indifference of the school authorities to get his child admitted in any other school. It has been found a numbers of children within age group of 5-14, who are staying in this non-official camp, had to discontinue their studies and there is no visible action by the local administration to bring back these children to schools again.
Let alone other problems, now the first and foremost need is prevent further evacuation of these hapless and hopeless adivasi and dalit victims. Whatever may be the intention, excuses or explanations put forth by the government, the reality is that one hundred victims of communal violence will be thrown out on streets within a day or two. Perhaps, the secular and human rights activists may respond.
Report by: K.P.Sasi, Film Maker
‘The BDO has asked us to vacate immediately and if we refuse police force will be used,’ said the worried survivors of Kandhamal violence. When the violence broke out on August 23, 2008, they were forced to leave their villages and their houses were burnt down. They had to take shelter in relief camps, but they were forced to leave from there also after the new BJD government come to power. Hence they had taken shelter in the market complex like beggars.
‘Where can we go with these two babies?’ asked a crying mother Ms. Menaka Nayak (25). Her youngest baby was born in the camp itself. ‘We can not go back to our village, because they will not allow us to live there if we do not convert to Hinduism. The government is not prepared to provide security and necessary help. On top of it they are trying to throw us out from here also’.
Mr. Moses Nayak, who has been prevented by the Hindu fundamentalists to come back to his village Ratingia as he had refused to change his religion unlike his two brothers, presently solely depends on daily wage based labour works, has no other options than to stay here. An elderly couple from R.Padikia village are also debarred to come back to their ancestral land as they failed to present their two ‘pastor’ sons before the communally motivated village mobs.
Following the dreadful communal violence around twenty thousand people have already migrated to different places outside Kandhamal. There are another five thousand people, who neither can afford to go outside nor can go back to their villages, living like refugees in various places of their home district. Although the district administration is claiming of ensuring security, peace and rehabilitation to the survivors, the reality speaks of a different story. The seventeen families from the villages such as R.Padikia, Kutuluma, Loharingia,Kilakia, Jimmangia, Dakedi, Kiramah, Ratingia staying in NAC market complex are virtually landless and legally not entitled to claim their house damage compensation as they do not have records of rights over the lands they used to have their houses since generations. Whoever have RoR over their small patches of homestead land, are debarred by fundamentalists to reconstruct their houses. Very few people were given compensation and again that amount was not more than Rs.10, 000.
‘Even after seventeen months, there is no indication of justice for the survivors of communal violence in Khandamal’, says Fr. Ajay, Director, Jana Vikas, an leading NGO in Kandhamal who represents National Centre for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) ‘There were 295 churches and 6,000 houses burnt down apart from schools, hospitals and other institutions. The victims are none other than poor adivasis and dalits. Urgent action is needed from the government to take care of the needs of the refugees of communalism who have been reduced to the level of beggars and second class citizens. This is not a matter of charity, but a fundamental right enshrined in the constitution of India’. The office building with other accessories belonging to Jana Vikas was one of the first to be burnt down on 25th August 2008.
‘It appears that the existence of refugees of communalism is threatening the image of the Orissa government’ says Dhirendra Panda, well known secular activist from Orissa. ‘That is the reason why they are trying to remove them instead of facilitating their security and rightful restoration’.
Mr.Sarat Nayak from Dakedi, a landless labour who can not go back to his village, complains of the indifference of the school authorities to get his child admitted in any other school. It has been found a numbers of children within age group of 5-14, who are staying in this non-official camp, had to discontinue their studies and there is no visible action by the local administration to bring back these children to schools again.
Let alone other problems, now the first and foremost need is prevent further evacuation of these hapless and hopeless adivasi and dalit victims. Whatever may be the intention, excuses or explanations put forth by the government, the reality is that one hundred victims of communal violence will be thrown out on streets within a day or two. Perhaps, the secular and human rights activists may respond.
Report by: K.P.Sasi, Film Maker
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