GUWAHATI: Seven students of the All Adivasi
Students' Association (AASA) were killed and over 20 injured in police firing
at Paneri in Darrang district, Assam, on Friday. The students were preventing the police from forcibly
opening shops during a 12-hour Assam bandh called by the Association.
One of the injured succumbed to his injuries on Saturday.
AASA president Justin Lakra told Times
News Network, "The firing at Paneri was done by the Bodo Liberation
Tiger (BLT) cadres in police uniforms. When our boys tried to stop the BLT boys
and the police, who were forcibly trying to open the shops, the BLT members
fired at our boys."
IGP (law and order) S B Kakoty said,
"The BLT is no way connected in this firing. The mob had tried to enforce
the bandh in a Bodo-dominated area and there were definitely Bodo people in the
area, but no one knows if any BLT or NDFB people were involved."
The students killed in the firing are Metneil
Munda, Jiten Tanti, Babu Khera, Arun Tanti, Joseph Babla, Mandaran Hudi and Mangra
Tanti.
Meanwhile, the entire district, which has a
sizeable Bodo and adivasi population, is tense following the incident. All
senior police officials of the district have rushed to the area and are camping
there.
Lakra said that the bandh was called to
press for the demands of the advasis. "We want the state government to
recommend ST status to the adivasis: Scrapping of the BTC memorandum of
understanding, rehabilitation of the riot victims in Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon
districts, and revival of the Assam Tea Corporation gardens," he said.
According to police, the incident occurred
at around 11.30 am at Kochubil Tiniali,
about 1 km away from the Paneri police station when more than 2,000 students
attacked the police. Three policemen were also injured, the IGP said.
Lakra said that two other adivasi students
were injured in a separate firing incident by the Army at Namdang Tea Estate in
Margherita in Tinsukia district.
"We want the state government or the
Centre to seize all weapons with the BLT cadres. The state government has
unleashed the BLT cadres on us as we have been protesting against the Bodoland
Territorial Council," Lakra alleged.
He added that Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi
had promised on June 18 to send the recommendation for granting ST status to
the adivasis within 10 days. "The time period has ended and we are yet to
see results. This is why we called this bandh," he said.