Curfew relaxed for six hours in Kokrajhar

Curfew was relaxed for six hours in troubled Kokrajhar district on Sunday with no incident reported from anywhere since last night and the situation remaining under control.

Official sources said curfew was relaxed from 10 am to 4 pm in the district barring in nine villages -- five in Kokrajhar sub-division and four in Gossaigaon sub-division of the district identified as vulnerable by security forces.

The situation was tense in the nine villages, the sources said.

The army continued to stage a flag march in Kokrajhar and 65 companies of central para-military forces have been deployed in the district to maintain strict vigil to prevent any untoward incident.

More than 65 persons have been taken into custody in connection with outbreak of fresh violence since November 10 after a lull of nearly three months which has claimed 10 lives so far in Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD).

The arrest of Bodoland Territorial Council executive member Monokumar Brahma alias Jalja yesterday for possessing illegal arms has created resentment in Bodoland Peoples Forum (BPF), a coalition partner of the ruling Congress.

BPF leader and Rajya Sabha MP Biswajit Daimary expressed dissatisfaction over the police action and alleged that it was 'unnecessarily' targeting BPF leaders and trying to create unrest in Bodoland Territorial Council.

In the first wave of violence between Bodos and Muslims in four BTAD districts and Dhubri in July-August this year 90 people were killed and more than 4.8 lakh were rendered homeless.