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War or peace
Even after more than a year, cries of children in Dhemaji,
punctuating thick cloud of smoke, is still fresh in our minds.
Joydeep
Ghosh
HISTORY is witness to the saga of sacrifices and hardships of the freedom
straggle which the nation had made to win its independence, and this moment
is cherished and celebrated every year with. a homage to the martyrs, and a
tribute to Indian culture and traditions.
Even though it was a Sunday, people in the small town of Dhemaji had turned
out in large numbers to celebrate the moment It was a bright sunny morning,
and smartly turned out children were waiting eagerly tor national flag to be
hoisted and to sing the national anthem, with the parents and public joining
in enthusiastically.
It was then that tragedy stuck, with a massive bomb-blast ripping through
this gathering, bringing death and devastation. It was a gruesome scene,
with bloodied bodies and limbs torn apart, and cries of children punctuating
the thick cloud of smoke and debris. Dhemaji was the unfortunate site for an
act of senseless violence, terrorism and cowardice perpetuated by a sadist
organisation - the ULFA.
The self-styled ：sons of soils； had chosen these innocent victims to give
a rnessage to the people of Assam, and to celebrate the moment with an act
of violence. Unfortunately, they were jolted by the unexpected reaction of
widesprcad condemnation of the act and the outright rejection of the ULFA by
the masses. Even those organisations which were once know as their
sympathisers openly criticised their actions.
Initially the ULFA came out with lame excuses blaming the people lor having
defied their ban and the government for using the children as human shields,
which again was a figment of imagination of a perverted mind. ULFA thought
they could enjoy moments of glory by their barbadc act, but their
euphoria was short-lived. Such lame excuses did. not hold much water and
seeing the uncontrollable rage of the people, the ULFA quickly back-tracked
and started denying its claims. But, when even the denials failed to calm
down the masses, ULFA changed tactics and tried to terrorise thc people into
submissions by indulging in serial bomb-blasts on soft targets.
The path of terrorism is replete with numerous examples that friend or jbc,
only a sick mind can celebrate with the blood and torn flesh of children- A
small group of gun-totting terrorists can hardly make a dent in the pride of
a huge nation like India and if they think they can force this
country into submission, they are sadly mistaken and grossly under
estimating the potentials of the people of Assam.
Terrorists can dictate terms at gun-point to an individual but not to tlie
masses, and certainly not to a country proud of its cultural heritage and
traditions. ULFA's lofty claims of caring for the people of Assam needs to
be re-examined at this juncture. Man has three basic needs, food, clothing
and shelter. As far as one can gather, ULFA never provided any of these
except for its cadres and in fact it has only demanded these from the
people. Its・ claims of building a dream Assam sounds rather hollow as it
has never been known for building infrastructure. In fact, it has made every
effort to destroy the existing ones, blowing up bridges, pylons and
pipelines.
Neither has it been able to solve the problem of illegal immigrants, which
has been debated for the last few decades in Assam now. But one really
can・t blame the ULFA, after all, if you are enjoying their hospitality in
Bangladesh, you certainly can・t afford to antagonize them here. Our
telephone man Paresh Bama can make feeble noises on this issue sometimes,
but even that too, is only with the tacit understanding and approval of his
1S1 ．masters・. If one does recollect correctly, ULFA was the only group
which asked the people not to co-operate with the nation during the Kargil
War, again, on orders from their ISI masters. The only industry it has
promoted till date is one of terror, extortion, guns and explosives, as its
demands for money and power seems to be insatiable. But. not every thing
about this group is negative. It has done lots of major investments, but
only m Bangladesh where it runs transport companies and garment exports. It
has also addressed the problem of unemployment, by indulging in forceful
recruitment into terrorism. The game starts once a boy is recruited, and he
plays till his time and his luck runs out, when he is either terminated or
captured and an uncertain future, which no sane man will like to gamble
with.
ULFA's saga of idealism, sacrifice and unending love for ：people of Assam；
has no limits, but when you analyse it, it is all rather hollow. And what
better example of its achievement can one quote than Paresh Barua・s mother
publicly condemning in no uncertain terms the heinous act of murdering the
children.
Tlic Dhemaji incident has another mysterious angle to it. The eerie silcncc
of the various ：human rights； groups, who were the guardian angels of any
perpetuated violation of rights, has been rather surprising. Human rights
groups were so vigilant and prompt in condemning any action by the security
forces, be it Indo-Bhutan operations, or even the hanging of the ．rapist・
Dhananjay whom they almost succeeded in making a martyr. But when the
innocent children were brutally killed, one could hardly hear a whimper of
protest from this quarter. May be they have other compulsions, or they were
too busy with other important engagements, or is it that these young
children do not enjoy any human rights? Once again, it is for the people to
judge, there is a hidden message in the out bust against the security forces
and the subdued condemnation of terrorism.
Today, the nefarious designs of the militants are exposed and the people of
Assam have been bold enough to out rightly reject them and condemn their
actions. The self-styled ．sons of soil・ always abandoned their kith and
Kin in moments of crisis, be it flood, or famine or epidemic, but have
always demanded their pound of flesh and managed to bring tragedy and tears
to them. They have absolutely no regard for the customs and traditions and
are today puppets in the hands of foreign agencies who use them for their
nefarious designs in the country. To please their masters, they can.
do anything, even kill their own children and may be, parents also.
There are no morals, principles or ideologies left, everything is acceptable
in militancy today. The Dhemaji incident has had its effect on the
militants, with almost 70 militants surrendering to Lt Gen AS Jawmal, AVSM,
VSM, GOC Gajraj Corps recently. Speaking to them, one learnt that. they were
disillusioned by the anti-people attitude, and ideology with which they
joined, is now dead. It was time for home coming for some of the cadres, but
for the blood-thirstly others, violence remains a way of life.
Its high lime now that the people of Assam should unite, and give them a
befitting reply as they have crossed all limits of tolerance. One must
remember that no insurgency in the world can survive without local support.
We must ensure that none among us support then in any way, even if by
mistake.
It should be made clear that the only course of action they have, is to
repent for their sins, surrender and join the mainstream. If they don't,
lets be patriots in our own way and help the security forces in. weeding out
this cancer from our society. So many precious lives have been lost; pull an
end to it, no more such losses are acceptable.
This article may not make any sense to Paresh Bama, but others will
understand tlie logic. Decide and act now, for trine is running out fast.
The vengeance of the people will certainly get you soon, so, if you want to
live long, and in peace, act now.
(This article was written before ULFA agreed to talks)
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