Was the Bodo-Muslim violence in Assam pre-planned?

While the situation in districts of Assam like Kokrajhar and Dhubri remains tense despite police and army presence, reports suggest the violence may have been planned in advance with some survivors saying that they were attacked by Bodo militants who were dressed in combat uniforms and appeared to have training in using guns. [caption id=“attachment_391516” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Refugees from villages in Kokrajhar district in Assam. AP[/caption] Villagers at a relief camp have alleged that they were herded into areas based on their religion and once they were out of the village their houses were burnt and they were shot at, the Indian Express reported “We became sitting ducks because we listened to the Bodo leaders and shifted to an area near our village to stay together. This enabled the attackers to set fire to our unguarded houses. At the same time, they encircled the area where we had all shifted,” one of the residents of a relief camp Azizul Haque was quoted as saying. Haque, who was shot in the stomach cites the presence of Bodo attackers dressed in combat uniforms, who were well armed and appeared to have training. As _Firstpost_ had pointed out the violence was building up gradually in the ethnically sensitive Bodoland Territorial Administered Districts (BTAD)—Kokrajhar, Baska, and Chirang barring Udalguri in Assam—since the beginning of July but the state government had failed to act on it. In an example of the random violence that is plaguing the region, another witness Sarifullah from Kokrajhar spoke of how his teenage brother was pulled off a vehicle he was hanging off while escaping from his village and stabbed multiple times. He succumbed to his injuries. Thousands of Bodo residents of the villages affected by the violence have also been displaced to the relief camps that are both ill-stocked with facilities_,_ The Hindu reported. Many of those who were in the relief camps didn’t have much to go back to. A resident of the Bamungaon Halipara village, Neelkamal Basumatary, spoke of how a mob had invaded the village and set fire to all the houses in the village.  Others spoke of how police stood by even while the homes of Bodos were burnt. In an interview with _Firstpost_ , All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) president Pramod Boro has blamed the violence on not only the illegal immigration but the economic deprivation in the region as well. It’s a claim that has been echoed by the Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi as well. However, despite the presence of large numbers of police and army personnel in the region, evidently it would more than just flag marches and the enforcement of law and order to allow the thousands of refugees now stranded in relief camps to be able to return to their homes.