KOKRAJHAR: Along with the rest of the world, the United Tribal Organization, Assam (UTOA) on Wednesday celebrated the International Day of Indigenous People with a simple programme at Kokrajhar Press Club here.
A meeting of the UTOA was also held where activists of other NGOs also took part. The initiative for peace building on Bodo-Muslim riot in 2012 was also discussed in the meeting where a short documentary film on peace building was also screened. The short documentary video ‘Peace Initiative on Bodo-Muslim riot in 2012’ was directed by Konsai Brahma, vice-president of the UTOA, under the sponsorship of UNESCO, which is likely to be submitted to UNESCO. The short documentary film focused on rebuilding of peaceful coexistence among the communities and showed how Muslims used to come to Bodo villages for various works and other small business in a free and fair manner and vice versa. Interactions with simple villagers of Bodo and Muslim villages were seen in the video where they narrated how they lived peacefully together over the years.
Talking to reporters, the president of UTOA, Markush Basumatary said the International Day of Indigenous People was celebrated across the world. The day is a very important day for the indigenous people of the world to rejuvenate their rights and freedom from exploitation and equal justice, he said, adding that the indigenous people in BTC and Assam were not free from exploitation. He said 3rd Bodo Peace Accord was signed in 2020 to usher in peace and development of indigenous people of the region about despite this fact, many leaders of NDFB were languishing in jail. He said the founder chairman of NDFB, Ranjan Daimary was one of the signatories of BTR Accord and he was supposed to be set free after the accord but a total of 65 senior members of the NDFB, including Daimary, were still in jail. He questioned what was the meaning of bringing Ranjan Daimary to the negotiation table for signing a peace accord when the government sent him back to jail after signing the accord?
He also said one of the senior NDFB leaders, M. Batha was forced to regroup a new outfit named National Liberation Front of Boroland (NLFB) after Ranjan Daimary was rearrested and sent back to jail. Batha lost faith in the assurance of the government after Ranjan Daimary was sent back to jail and went back to the jungle to float a new outfit. He returned with his members of NLFB to the mainstream for a peaceful solution and stayed in a designated camp but there has been no peace talk as yet. Recently, he was again arrested and sent to jail. Mashahary demanded that Ranjan Daimary and all members and M. Batha, c-in-c of NLFB, should be released as early as possible and complete rehabilitation must be given to them.
Also Watch: