Don’t panic, go back to work places: Parties to Assamese

Assam Friday beefed up security at railway stations and requested other states to ensure safe passage for two trains bringing back some 4,000 people from Karnataka. The trains are likely to arrive Saturday morning.

Some 7,000 people from Assam and other Northeastern states fled Karnataka after rumours circulated that they would be targeted in retaliation for the attacks on Muslims in Kokrajhar.

Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh, have sent ministers and senior officials to Bangalore and Hyderabad to ensure people from the Northeast are safe there.

Meanwhile, an all-party meeting convened by the Assam government, the first since riots broke out, Friday appealed to the Assamese in Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad not to panic and stay wherever they are. A resolution adopted by the meeting also urged people who have come back in panic to return to their places of work study.

"Governments in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have assured full protection to persons hailing from the Northeast," the resolution said.

Kokrajhar and other violence-scarred districts, meanwhile, were peaceful Friday. No fresh incidents of violence have been reported in the last 24 hours. Sources said 8,687 persons had left relief camps since Thursday, bringing down the number of inmates to 2,77,574.

On Friday, the police arrested 10 people who allegedly burnt a car and killed its driver at Nij-Gosaigaon village in Baksa Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner B C Barbaruah said. The police had picked up 65 persons — 55 of them were later let off — on Thursday, sparking a protest by a group of people at Tamulpur police station. The police had to fire rubber bullets to disperse them.

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