Rafiqul Islam was born and raised here. This was his home — till the day before, when a marauding group of miscreants burnt down the place he used to call his home.
Ever since rioting began in and around Kokrajhar about a week ago, Mr. Islam had been on guard. A businessman dealing in construction materials, he got a tip-off that his house and that of his mother adjoining it might be attacked. On Tuesday, it happened.
“People came to my house and that of my mother, Rabia Khatun, and set them afire,” he says, matter-of-factly.
Without displaying any signs of sorrow or fear, Mr. Islam goes about salvaging some clothes from what remain of the two houses.
“There are still some things and articles left in my house, but in my mother’s house, everything has been gutted,” he says. Two cars stand gutted in the two houses. Some household goods lie scattered around, while much of what remains is ash and soot.With two daughters and a wife to look after, Mr. Islam would probably be looking for a new and safer place. “All the family members are safe for now. My mother was residing in her house along with my brother, sister-in-law and their children. We moved to safer places before the attack took place.”
For Mr. Islam the loss has been not so much of property as of faith and trust. “I was born here, lived all my life here. Our family has been living here for the last 40-45 years. Why did they pick on us?”
What also hurt him is government apathy. Though the twin houses stand on the main road, barely a couple of km from the Circuit House which Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi visited on Thursday, no one paid him a visit. “I have not got any aid and no one has come to enquire about the attack so far.”
Keywords: Assam communal violence, Bodos-Muslims clash
the incident is really shameful and derogatory to humanism...
may god help us all to understand the true meaning of life i.e. peace and prosperity and bless us with the power to awaken our humanity which we ought to forget sometime.
I feel so frustrated & helpless.A sick feeling shoots through my
stomach. This gentleman, the house behind him, the small car he had
which is typical of most Assamese people,could well have been mine.
After this incident, and given his matter-of-fact statements, his
bitterness may turn into venom in some way or the other. Last night I
saw a Bodo lady, who has lost everything in her village (they would've
stayed there since time immemorial since Bodos are the earliest
inhabitants of Assam), weeping on camera, mentally lost, staring at an
uncertain future ahead of her. Very painful. The Assam agitation
(1979-85) was launched to draw the attention of the nation to the
dangers of rampant migration, encroachment and land snatching by
Bangladeshis. The central govt, in order to protect its vote bank,
tried to crush it through all means at its disposal - shooting down
non-violent agitators in cold blood, arming & inciting the Bodos
against the Assamese. We are reaping the results now.
Please also report about the four people who were murdered initially. They too must have sufferred, like the ones who sufferred about the aftermath.
As a Citizen of India you are our brother and I feel so sorry for this unfortunate incident. I pray God to give you strength and knowledge.
God Bless.
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