AASU effort to defuse tension

GUWAHATI, Jan 7 – Assam Government should take immediate steps to ensure safety and security to the life and property of the Rabha people living in Meghalaya, said the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) in a press statement here this evening. The students’ body has demanded a meeting of the Chief Ministers of both Assam and Meghalaya on the present developments that rendered thousands of families homeless, besides killing several people, in East Garo Hills district.

Meanwhile, the students’ body has been in touch with the Garo Students’ Union and All Rabha Students’ Union leaders to bring back normalcy to the troubled areas. The students’ body has also made an appeal to the people of both the Garo and Rabha communities to maintain peace and amity.

In the statement jointly issued by AASU president Sankar Prasad Roy and its general secretary Tapan Kumar Gogoi alleged that Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has totally failed to persuade the Meghalaya Government to take adequate measures for the protection of life and property of the Rabhas living in the neighbouring state.

The AASU and its Goalpara district unit have been taking stock of the situation in Goalpara district and its neighbouring Meghalaya areas. They have also been distributing relief materials among the victims of the ethnic clash.

Common people of both the Rabha and Garo communities living in Assam-Meghalaya border areas in Goalpara and East Garo Hills districts respectively of Assam and Meghalaya, who are now divided in two rival camps due to the misdeeds of some miscreants, are haunted by the fear of being attacked any moment by the people of the rival groups. People of both the ethnic groups have been complaining that the security measures adopted by the local administrations in both Assam and Meghalaya are not adequate to ensure their security.

However, at local levels, initiatives have been taken up by the people of both the ethnic groups to provide shelter and relief to those affected during the violent incidents that rocked these parts of the two states.