“In Nellie, time stands still. No socio-economic development has taken place in the area. Where and how to get justice for the victims?

​​By Abdul Gani, TwoCircles.net,

Guwahati: It has been 32 years. Though the world has witnessed a sea change around him, nothing has changed for Sirajuddin Ahmed. The pain and agony still haunts him and he says, it will probably continue till his last breath.

He is one of the ill-fated people who have been the witness to the killings of more than 3,000 people within a day on February 18 in 1983 in Assam’s Nellie. Their only crime: they exercised their democratic right to vote.





Victims of Nellie massacre captured in photos (various sources from internet)



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“We feel lost always. We feel everybody has betrayed us. Firstly, our people were mercilessly butchered for no reason and then, there has been no justice for these crimes even after three decades. What can we expect from democracy?” said Sirajuddin Ahmed, 72. He is from Nellie.

On that fateful day, he lost as many as 49 relatives including his children and wife. The mobs attacked the villagers suspecting them to be settlers from Bangladesh. It also left at least 370 children orphaned. Sixteen villages were destroyed.

On Wednesday, Sirajuddin tried to recall the day which changed their destiny for the rest of their lives. He had managed to save his life somehow.

“We have no idea whom to trust anymore. I think this is the worst incident in Indian history after the independence. I still wish and pray that someday we will get justice,” Ahmed added.

Not just him, there are many others who are still unable to get over the grief of losing their near and dear ones. Abdul Halim of Borbori village was merely 12-years of age when he witnessed the killing of his parents and siblings that day in 1983.

“I lost five members of my family in the attack. I could not realize what was going on. It was chaos all around. I think that was the darkest day of my life and for many others,” Halim said.

Harsh Mander, a noted social activist and author said, a weak and partisan state leaves each of its citizens weak and vulnerable, as the gruesome Nellie massacre demonstrates.

“I had been invited by the survivors to sit with them as they recalled and commemorated the events that had unfolded in this distant impoverished corner of the country. The government gave the survivors of Nellie compensation for each death of as little as Rs 5,000, contrasted for instance with Rs 7 lakh that have been paid to survivors of the Sikh carnage of a year later in 1984. A total of 688 criminal cases were filed in connection with Nellie organised massacre and of these 310 cases were charge-sheeted,” Mander had written in one of his articles after his visit to the area.

The remaining 378 cases were closed due to the police claim of ‘lack of evidence’. Incidentally, all the 310 charge-sheeted cases were dropped by the government as a part of Assam Accord; therefore not a single person has had to face even a trial for the gruesome massacre. “Some lives are clearly deemed by the state of being of little worth compared to others,” he had further said.

Guwahati-based journalist Diganta Sharma rued that these people have been denied justice by the state government. “I just do not mean the compensation but overall justice. If people have to live like this in a democracy, I don’t have any words to say. When will there be peace?” Sharma said.

Sharma’s book ‘Nellie, 1983’ also depicts the tale of the people and their sufferings in detailed.

On Wednesday, All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) also made couple of resolutions in a bid to provide justice to these people.

AAMSU general secretary Ainuddin Ahmed said the students’ body will also file a PIL for justice for these people. “We will never give up. If needed, we will file a PIL to get justice for these people. We will also organize a mass convention to know publics’ view in this regard shortly,” Ahmed told TCN after attending a prayer session for the departed souls in Jagiroad.

AAMSU activists also staged demonstration protesting the mass killings and seeking justice.

Young activist and research scholar Abdul Kalam Azad who has visited the place and interacted with victims shared his experience with TCN.

“When I categorically asked one 78-year-old Mafiz Uddin Ahmed, (who lost 10 of his family members, including his mother, in Nellie massacre) about the issue of land alienation or land grabbing, his response was quite thought provoking,” Kalam said.

He said – quoting Mafiz Uddin Ahmed – “When this land was allotted to Ahmed in 1942 by the colonial magistrate against the payment of Rs five, it was a jungle. Ahmed’s family came to Nellie from Nagaon (earlier Nowgong) and cleared the land for cultivation”.

Kalam said that Ahmed’s narrative is clear enough to understand that the Muslims had not grabbed the land of Tiwa community or had not alienated them from their land. But they got a jungle against payment from British government as per the then policy of the colonial administration.

Ahmed holds leaders of Assam Movement which was meant to drive out the foreigners from Assam, responsible for the massacre and says that the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and the subsequent Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) government declared the attackers who died during the massacre as martyr.

“They received a compensated of Rs 25,000 while the victims who lost their lives for participating in the democratic process called election were not declared as martyr and provided mere Rs 5,000 as compensation,” said Ahmed.

Noted educationalist and author Dinesh Baisya said it’s time that the message of humanity for the greater interest of the society is spread apart from making living conditions better for common people. “We should try and spread the message of humanity at this hour. It’s also pathetic to see the poor living conditions of these people who have seen no improvement for decades. They should be provided education and basic facilities,” said Baisya, former principal of B Borooah College, here.

Hafiz Ahmed, president of Char Chapori Sahitya Parishad (CCSP), a literary body of the state, said just the time is passing by without any outcome. “It’s just another February 18. It has been continuing for the last 32 years just to remind us the hollowness of the Indian democracy. So far not a single person was punished even after committing such a crime. I wonder what did the 17 MLAs of the UMF do when all the cases against the alleged killers of Nellie were withdrawn by the AGP government. In Nellie, time stands still. No socio-economic development has taken place in the area. Where and how to get justice for the victims of Nellie?” asked Ahmed.

Related:

Nellie 1983