Mumbai (AsiaNews)
- A "pathetic" situation of absolute "poverty and despair":
thus Fr. Sebastian
SBD, parish priest of Don Bosco of Kokrajhar, describes the condition of over
15 thousand tribal accommodated in 10 camps in the parish following the
violence between indigenous Bodo and Muslim settlers to AsiaNews. Currently,
tensions appear to have calmed, and P Chidambaran, the interior minister, is
set to visit the people of Assam. Yet,
the Salesian priest said, these people are facing "an uncertain future,
bleak and grim, especially for their children. They have lost everything."
The
riots erupted in the night between 21 and 22 July, when unidentified gunmen
killed four young people in Kokrajhar district, an area populated by tribal
Bodo. According
to preliminary police reports for revenge, some tribes attacked Muslims,
suspected of being responsible for the killing. Since
then, violence has escalated, with different groups who have set fire to cars,
homes and schools, shooting at people and among crowds. Between
22 and 23 July, the riots spread like wildfire, reaching the district of
Chirang. The
final toll is about 53 deaths and more than 170 thousand people (tribals and
settlers) who have fled from their villages.
These
days, Don Bosco Parish has set up 10 refugee camps, where over 15 thousand
tribal Bodo found refuge and support. "The
families - says Fr. Sebastian - have left the villages, bringing with them only
the clothes on their backs, such was their fear. Their homes were reduced to
ashes, their lands were ravaged, their cattle killed. These people are
traumatized physically and psychologically".
Now
the main danger concerns the spread of diseases, especially because the country
is in the grips of the monsoon season. "We
have emergency tents - said the priest -,
in which we distribute medicines, basic sanitation, clean water and clean
sheets. Pregnant women, small children and elderly are most vulnerable, and we
want to limit the contagion."
The
northeastern state of Assam is not new to such violence. In
general, the disorders arise from disputes of an economic nature, in which
ethnic diversity is an aggravating circumstance. On
several occasions, Bodoland Territorial
Council (BTC), a non-autonomous territorial authority that administers the
Bodo-majority areas, has denounced the abuses committed by Muslim settlers, who
illegally enter India from the border with Bangladesh and take possession of
the land of the indigenous .