A group of retired officers has asked a high-powered committee to keep southern Assam’s Barak Valley and the State’s hill districts out of its recommendations on the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.
The Centre had constituted the 15-member committee, headed by retired Gauhati High Court judge B.K. Sarma, to prepare the ground to implement Clause 6 that states: “Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.”
The retired officers, including a former bureaucrat, said no leader from the Barak Valley was a signatory of the 1985 Assam Accord which ended a six-year agitation to eject illegal migrants from the State.
No representatives
“The people of Barak Valley and the hill districts, who have their distinct languages, culture and ethnicity, historical and social backgrounds are not a party to that Accord. And obviously the high-powered committee for the implementation of Clause 6, constituted (by the Centre) excluded due representation from the two areas,” the retired officers wrote in a letter to Justice Sarma.
They said both the State and the Union governments deliberately refrained from inclusion of any member from the two areas keeping in view “the ground reality and applicability of the jurisdiction” of the panel constituted.
“People of Barak Valley comprising Bengalis, Manipuris, Hmars, Dimasas, Kukis, Nepalis, Nagas, Santhalis, tea garden communities and belonging to different religions like Hindu, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, etc., are to be excluded from the jurisdiction of your committee,” the letter said, advising that the recommendations be restricted to the Brahmaputra Valley.
The group hoped the committee’s recommendation would not hamper the unity in diversity of people and would honour dignity, human rights and fraternity of the inhabitants in the interest of the nation.
AABHA concerns
However, the primarily Barak Valley-based All Assam Bengali Hindu Association (AABHA), has demanded the inclusion of a Hindu Bengali member in the Clause 6 committee. The association also objected to the panel using “misleading” terms such as “indigenous Assamese” and “indigenous tribals” in an advertisement seeking suggestions from stakeholders before September 20.
“One-fourth of Assam’s population is Hindu Bengali. It is sad that the community is not represented in the panel when one student’s body has four-five members,” AABHA president Basudev Acharjee said in reference to the All Assam Students’ Union.
