I’m not one to panic and create unnecessary pandemonium, but after
silently observing the current ethnic, communal violence in India between what
started out as the Bodos and Muslims now unnecessarily escalated to North
Eastern’s vs. the Muslim community, I can honestly say I’m scared as hell. The
safety of my family, constantly troubles me and the worst part is that feeling
of helplessness.
Every day I get bombarded with news (or rumors they say) about new
attacks on people from the North East, and even though I try to shoo most of
them away as rumors but they still have a way of adding to the fear. I live in
an area where a majority of the residents are Muslims and until now I’ve always
looked at them as misunderstood and actually really nice people (and I still
do) but the fear that has flooded my judgment will not allow me to look at them
the same was as before (which I hope will change). I understand that this is
not a fair judgment, but I hope you also understand that I’m scared, and my
unfair judgment is an outcome of fear psychosis.
On the other hand what really touched me was the gesture of the
Muslim community for apologizing for the incidents and demanding for a proper probe on the origin the matter and also inviting people from the North East to live with
them till the matter is resolved. But the question still remains, will it ever
get resolved?
The newspaper headlines for the past week haven’t really helped in
calming me down either. They write about the involvement of Pakistan and its
terror units. Now if these are true then it has escalated the fear tenfold.
When terrorists can hold a country like the Unites States at a standstill,
imagine what they could do to a small minority like that of us North Easterns.
This is an extract from an article I read today from rediff.com
“The panic campaign that Pakistan launched had an Indian hand as well, as some
of their well-wishers in India helped spread the message. The cyber terrorists
at Pakistan used the same model that the Lashkar used to spread terror in
India. The Lashkar which carried out almost all attacks on Indian soil relied
on Indian modules such as SIMI and the Indian Mujahideen to spread terror”. The headline read - NE exodus: Pakistanused LeT tactic to target India
Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t this look like it’s bigger
than the NE vs. Muslims? And we North Easterns look like involuntary pawns in a
very complicated, dangerous game between Pakistan and India.
What also concerns me is the attitude of the Government in this
situation. In an interview with DNA Alka Sarma, former MLA and senior Asom Gana
Parishad (AGP) leader sounded the warning bell saying, “In case this conflict
is not resolved peacefully, there are dangers that this would turn into a major
communal flare across the country.” She
also admitted that she was not very optimistic of the exodus stopping any time
soon.
Over 5 Lakh refugees in various refugee camps in Assam (the most
displaced in Indian History) scared to return to their villages. Thousands of
people from the North East returning home from Major cities, leaving their
jobs, studies, businesses all because the government cannot guarantee their
safety.
Every day I ask myself why am I running scared in my own country,
from my own people? Why can’t my government protect me? Why do I feel like an
alien, insecure and afraid in my own country?
Do I belong here?
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