annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Assam
Special Powers Act of 1958 are deployed
in Assam. After a series of bomb
explosions by the armed opposition groups
in October 2004, Assam decided to recruit
additional 6,000 policemen, two battalions
of Armed Police, 4,000 Home Guards and
5,000 Village Defence Party personnel. 2
The key armed opposition groups
active in the State are the United
Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA),
United People’s Democratic Solidarity
(UPDS, anti-talk and pro-talk factions),
Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA), Hmar
People’s Convention (HPC), Dima Halam
Daogah (DHD) and National Socialist
Council of Nagaland (Issac-Muivah and
Kaplang factions), Karbi National
Volunteer (KNV), National Democratic
Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and Adivasi
Cobra Militants of Assam. In 2004, a new
Karbi armed group, Karbi Anglong
National Liberation Front (KLNLF)
surfaced in the Karbi Anglong district. 3
The Central government and the State
government of Assam continued peace
efforts with many armed opposition
groups in the state. Pursuant to an
agreement signed in December 2003,
about 1,000 out of 2,600 surrendered
members of the Bodoland Liberation
Tigers (BLT) were to be recruited in the
Border Security Force, Central Reserve
Police Force and the Assam Rifles. 4
The Dima Halam Daoga (DHD) has
been holding talks with the Union Home
Ministry. 5 The cease-fire agreement with
Adivasi Cobra Militants of Assam
continued. 6 Several rounds of tripartite
20
talks were held amongst the UPDS (protalk)
and Central and State government
representatives. Although the NDFB
announced unilateral cease-fire on 8
October 2004 to be effective from 15
October 2004, talks with NDFB as well as
ULFA failed to take off.
The security forces have been
responsible for gross human rights
violations including torture, rape and
arbitrary, summary and extrajudicial
executions. Though Assam State Human
Rights Commission awarded interim
compensation of Rs 50,000 to the next of
kin of ULFA cadre Ananta Roy who was
killed in police custody on 22 October
1999 there was little information about
prosecution of the culprits. 7 Most human
rights violations by both the State and
Central security forces went unpunished.
The massacre of 17 innocent children
at Dhemaji district by the ULFA on 15
August 2004 demonstrated flagrant
violations of international humanitarian
law standards by the armed opposition
groups in the state. 8 The alleged armed
groups subsequently killed 49 people in
the first week of October 2004, followed
by further killings from 13 to 17 December
2004. The combined violence of all armed
groups in 2003-2004 has reportedly
declined by 24 per cent in terms of
incidents (from 388 to 295) but the killings
have increased by 44 per cent (177 to 255)
as compared to 2002-2003. 9
Assam continued to be plagued by
ethnic conflicts especially in Karbi
Anglong areas causing heavy loss of lives