Seven persons were killed and nine others were injured after a suspected Garo National liberation Army (GNlA) militant fired at innocent civilians amid Diwali festivities on Sunday night in Assam’s Goalpara district.
Police said that about eight armed militants fired indiscriminately at a group of people in a remote village of Gendamari under Agia police station in the district killing six of them on spot and injuring ten others. One of them died on Monday while on the way to Guwahati for better treatment, police said.
The Assam Government has beefed up security in and around the district-which borders Meghalaya- following the incident on Sunday night and the Goalpara district administration has also imposed night-curfew along the Assam-Meghalaya border.
“The Meghalaya based GNlA militants has strong presence in the areas bordering Assam and Meghalaya. We suspect their hand behind the incident and it is intended to disturb the proposed polls to the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council (RHAC),” said IGP (law and Order) of Assam Police SN Singh.
“The suspected militants in army fatigue appeared all of a sudden at the village and started indiscriminate firing on a group of people, who were gambling in the area on Diwali,” he said.
The Golapara district in Assam has been witnessing violence since last month after the Assam Government declared dates for RHAC polls - which will be held from November 13 to 25. While the Rabhas are happy over the announcement of polls dates, the non-Rabha communities including the Garos, Khasis and the religious minority communities are opposing on the ground that there are villages where Rabhas are minority and that these villages should be excluded from the RHAC.
State Home Secretary GD Tripathy said that eight fixed pickets are being set up in Goalpara district to ensure free and fair polls to the RHAC and added that security have also been tightened to prevent militants from entering the district. He also said that a massive search operation is on to nab the culprits who were behind the brutal killing of innocent civilians.
Also, 28 additional companies of central security forces have already been deployed in the district for the forthcoming polls. Following the incident last night, the Assam Government has also decided to tighten security of the candidates who are contesting in the poll.
Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has asked the State Director General of Police JN Choudhury to deal firmly against the suspected militants and asked him to leave no stone unturned to nab the suspected militants and to mete out exemplary punishment for their heinous crime.
Gogoi also asked his Cabinet colleagues Himanta Biswa Sarma, Rockybul Hussain, Nilamani Sen Deka and Rajib lochan Pegu to rush to the site of the incident and to make a first-hand assessment of the ground situation.
The Assam Chief Minister had also taken up the matter with the Meghalaya Government to assist in nabbing the GNlA militants and to see to it that the militant outfit did not create further trouble with elections to RHAC.