India: The killing of eight migrant labourers from Assam triggers mass exodus of migrant labourers

Waiting for a bloodbath?
The killing of eight migrant labourers from Assam in the Garo Hills could start an ethnic conflict, says Ratnadip Choudhury
Ratnadip Choudhury

Tehelka, 2013-07-13 , Issue 28 Volume 10

At his house in lower Assam’s Dhubri district, the fear is visible in Jalaluddin’s eyes. The 47-year-old is among the 10 people from his village who were lucky to escape death. These villagers worked as labourers in the coal mines of the South Garo Hills in neighbouring Meghalaya before they were forced to flee.

On 23 June, a gang of miscreants brutally killed eight Bengali-speaking Muslim migrant labourers from lower Assam inside the coal mines they were working in. Three other labourers, also Bengali speaking Muslims from Assam, were seriously injured in the attacks that took place in Garegittim and Nangalbibra, two remote coal-rich belts of the Garo Hills.

This has triggered a mass exodus of migrant labourers from the region, most of them Bengali-speaking Muslims from lower Assam, who are often seen as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Of the 15,000 migrant labourers working on these largely unregulated and illegal coal mines, about 5,000 have already left the Hills.

Coming close on the heels of another incident where locals thrashed to death a migrant Muslim labourer for allegedly molesting a 27-year old differently-abled tribal girl in Tura, the biggest town in the area, the killings have added to the tension on the border areas between Assam and Meghalaya.

The coal-rich areas of Nangalbibra, Siju and Asakgre in the Garo Hills have been a source of employment for both tribal and non-tribal communities, including the Bengali-speaking Muslims from lower Assam and the Rabhas and Garos, two indigenous tribes living on the border of the two states. Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma termed the attacks “unfortunate” and promised to beef up security in the region to “make sure it does not flare up into a fresh crisis on the Assam-Meghalaya border”. The government has announced Rs 3 lakh as compensation to the family of the labourer who was lynched by the locals.

Last year, the country was witness to bloody ethnic riots between the Bodos and the Bengali-speaking Muslims in the Bodoland areas of lower Assam that left over a 100 people dead. After the riots, most indigenous tribal groups of the Northeast have started looking at the growing migrant population with distrust. The odd demographic mix along the border areas does not help matters.

Garos and Rabhas live on both sides of the border. In 2011, the two tribes clashed over the elections of the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council, a move that was opposed by the Garos. The lower Assam side is dominated by Muslim settlers, who also work as migrant labourers in Meghalaya. The presence of the Bodos adds to the fragility of the region in the wake of any communal tension.

Protesting the killings, truckers of Assam have stopped plying to the Garo Hills. This has affected daily life in the Garo heartland. Around 3,000 trucks travel between lower Assam and the Garo Hills every day, carrying coal loads and essential supplies. “I employ Muslim labourers because they come cheap and are hard working,” says Dennis N Sangma, 33, a coal mine owner. “We faced no such problems in the past, but ever since the Bodoland crisis, people in Meghalaya have been apprehensive of Bengali-speaking Muslim migrant labourers.”

The Meghalaya government, however, has downplayed the “targeted killing” angle and has called the attackers “dacoits”. Interestingly, around Rs 1 lakh was taken away from the slain labourers who had got their wages earlier that evening.

“It was not a case of dacoity,” says Jalaluddin. “A group of 50-60 men armed with sharp weapons attacked only Muslim workers, not tribal labourers or Biharis.”

In Assam, Muslim political outfits and pressure groups have condemned the killings. The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the main Opposition party, has already accused the Congress governments in both states of “creating a situation similar to Bodoland”. Pressure groups like the Muslim Youths Forum Against Communalism, Terrorism and Sedition (MYFACTS) has submitted a memorandum to Wajahat Habibullah, chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities, on the massacre.

Coming barely a year after the Bodoland riots, the latest string of violence is bound to add to the renewed clamour for instituting an Inner Line Permit in Meghalaya to stop illegal migrants from entering the state. That is why it’s important to address the issue now before it snowballs into another full-blown crisis.

ratnadip@tehelka.com

(Published in Tehelka Magazine, Volume 10 Issue 28, Dated 13 July 2013)