Assam terror attack: CM Sonowal's whirlwind visit leaves Kokrajhar residents disappointed

After a brief period of peace, militants launched an attack in Kokrajhar’s crowded marketplace killing 14 civilians and injuring 20 others. This was one of the deadliest attacks in Assam after the BJP government came to power. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal visited Kokrajhar district in Assam on Saturday and urged the Centre to deploy 75 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), which were withdrawn from the state after the April assembly elections.

Despite Sonowal’s many assurances, residents of the area were left disappointed with the chief minister’s whirlwind visit. Sumoti Basumatary, who lost her husband in the attack, told The Telegraph that she got only less than a minute with Sonowal as she was interrupted by the local leaders.

“Vigil should be stepped up to foil the sinister designs of anti-national forces,” Sonowal said and appealed to the people to remain alert to nip in the bud the nefarious designs of these forces and to maintain peace and harmony at any cost. The report added that slogans like “Assam police murdabad” and “army zindabad” were raised by the local youths.

“We have not seen such a rush but it is of no benefit to us. We wanted to interact with the chief minister but failed,” a local was quoted as sayng by The Telegraph.

Sonowal also chaired a strategy group meeting of the Unified Command at the Kokrajhar Circuit House and directed the police, the Army, the Central Reserve Police Force and other para-military forces to sternly deal with the situation after the terror attack. He also directed the security agencies to be on high alert in the run-up to Independence Day on 15 August and beef up security in vulnerable areas.

On Friday, armed militants dressed in Army fatigues and belonging to the Bodo separatist outfit had opened fire and threw grenades at the crowded weekly market. One militant was neutralised on the same day. Three additional companies have been deployed in Kokrajhar to prevent any more attacks.

An NIA team was sent on Saturday to launch a search for the militants of Bodo separatist outfit NDFB(S) suspected to be involved in the attack. A strict vigil is being maintained along the Assam-Bengal interstate border and international fronts with Bhutan to prevent the NDFB(S) militants from escaping there, the sources said.

Firstpost’s Simantik Dowerah wrote that Kokrajhar saw the rise of Bodo militancy in the 80s. “The National Democratic Front of Bodoland took off with its initial nomenclature of Bodo Security Force in 1986. It took its current name in 1994. Soon after its birth, the NDFB had only one mission — ethnic cleansing of non-Bodos from the Bodo areas.”

Normalcy returned to Kokrajhar as security forces intensified operation against the NDFB(S). “The situation is normal now. We are receiving seven companies of additional forces in Kokrajhar. While a few of them have already reached, some are being sent,” said Additional DGP Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) LR Bishnoi said on Saturday.

With inputs from agencies