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Villagers dig up mass grave in Assam

Mrinal Talukdar in Guwahati

Thousands of villagers, fed up with ULFA's mindless violence, dug up a suspected mass grave in Nalbari district yesterday. They fear there are least 50 bodies buried in the abandoned pond.

Wife of one Hitesh Kalita, who was kidnapped by the ULFA about six months ago, found her husband's footwear from the site which indicated that his body was buried there.

In a rare act of collective courage watched by journalists and thousands of people, the villagers, angered at the killing of peasant leader Prasanna Kalita earlier this month, dug up the site and recovered a body besides belongings of some people suspected to have been killed by the ULFA..

This is the first time that people, without any initiative from the government, came out strongly against the ULFA and that too in Nalbari district, considered to be the last citadel of the banned organisation.

The villagers were organised by the CPI (ML) and the United Revolutionary Minority Council of Assam, a leftist leaning body.

District Magistrate Asish Kumar Bhutani and Superintendent of Police Apurba Jyoti Baruah visited the spot and took possession of the body.

UNI

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