THE MYSTICAL NORTH –EAST
I joined CRPF in May 1998 and after completion of training in 1999, I first got posted to Assam, in NORTH EAST INDIA. At that time North East particularly Assam was boiling with insurgency and no one wanted to be posted there if thinks logically. But in the enthusiasm of a new job and new place I was least bothered.
North East India considered being the strategic part of as it is surrounded by countries like China, Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal. It is constituted by seven states which are sometimes called seven sisters i.e. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. River Brahmaputra divides North East India from the rest and is joined by a state of art Bridge called Saraighat.
North East India always remains neglected part of the country with very least development which led to the developing of insurgency and militancy which is dated back as old as 1946. In 1946 Phizo a Naga started the insurgency in Nagaland by waging an armed rebellion against the government, claiming Nagaland a separate country, the reason being the society, culture, demography and terrain are different from the mainland India. Also, they claim themselves to be the descendants of South Asian tribe. The thick jungles and hilly terrain also helped in nurturing of insurgency and made it tedious fort the security agencies to tackle the menace. The neighbouring countries that are always ready to grab the opportunity to unsettle our nation, provided and helped with much-needed weapons and funds. The reluctance of central government to look into the matter over the period added fuel to the fire in the insurgency.
When I got posted in Assam for the first time my battalion headquarters was on the outskirts of Guwahati in an industrial complex, some 30 km from the railway station. The insurgency was t its peak though few operations were conducted against the insurgent’s groups like ULFA(United Liberation Front of Assam).
ULFA was created by a few youths who were from a very well to do families and educated and were employed, at Rang Ghar (amphitheatre) in the district of Sibsagar in upper Assam in April 1979. The main ideology was to make Assam a sovereign nation with separate Constitution and habited by originals Ahoms of the region.
The main mode of transport to North East was mainly trains and few flights in those times As the flights used to be expensive hence most of the people including security forces used to travel mostly by train. The notoriety of the region because of insurgency was far and wide. Hence mostly who had worked only used to travel mainly The ULFA/insurgents never wanted the non- Assamese in the state including the Security forces and other working. Hence they target the trains by planting IEDs and blasts the railway tracks. They also used to ambush the SFs, killing and kidnapping for ransom of government and PSUs
The North East is also known for incessant and heavy rainfalls. In those days the only mean of communication was a landline and the STD/PCO or letters by post were very scarce. Due to trains most of the times that used to be out of order or if we were lucky there was only one landline in the control room for official and operational purpose. In the day time, it was busy most of the time for official purpose and when at night there was not any possibility of incoming official calls we used to call an STD/PCO number some 8kms away and asked him to call our home to get us to connect. he used to dial out a home number from another set and get us connected by joining both mouthpiece and receiver which made the voice very bleak. Everyone used to get a minute or two to know the well being of our folks so that more people can talk till morning. Moreover, it was unauthorized to use the official phone. There were no DTH at that time so we mostly were dependent on newspapers. Even the local newspaper used to reach us after 2-3 days of publication due to unwarranted bandhs and militancy, forget about national dailies which were supplied by airmail as all were mostly New Delhi published. So the best mode of communication was letters. I used to write letters to parents and friends and the wait for one always kept us alive in the hinterland.
Once a while we used to get the chance of going to the market usually monthly commodities procurement for the troops or any official duties, which excited us to get rid of the monotonous routine of campus. It is again a tough job as first a ROAD OPENING PARTY have to be sent beforehand to sanitize the area from any IEDs or Ambush by the militants. When all found okay then the vehicles used to go and the ROP would remain there till then.
Once I went with one of my senior on official duty in the morning. Meanwhile, at lunch time, we decided to eat in the local outlet. We ordered rice and Sabji (vegetable) as told by him consider it to be vegan as I am pure veg. After eating a few spoons suddenly there was a clatter in my mouth. I asked my colleague if it has meat. He rubbished it and we had it till he also realized that it’s Aloo Meat Sabji. I immediately left with nausea feeling. We summoned the waiter and ask him why he lied to us. He said its called sabji only as meat is a staple diet in Assam. My first lesson that food habits to be taken seriously when in the North East.
There were blasts and ambushes and massacre of non-Assamese people by ULFA and their accomplices all around us as the news came every everyday dummy train was run before the real one to avoid any blasts or ambush by the militants. The trains were also stopped as and where it would be at 1700 hrs till 0500 hrs before entering in Assam which is run after thorough sanitizing the area from any untoward incident. The Govt officials especially Non-Assamese who work there were kidnapped for ransom to get their cadres free from jails. That’s why most of them didn’t want to be posted there which is instrumental in the stagnation of development of the region. During that time a very unfortunate incident of fratricide happened in my regiment. A constable shot an officer commanding over some trivial issue by service rifle. During my stint in Guwahati, we had a platoon (25) post in Reserve Bank of India which was the treasury vault for all the seven states. The denomination was sent by chopper to the remotest area of the region and sometime due to inhospitable weather used to return midway. That time I saw the real treasury as shown in movies.
After my tenure of two and a half years in 2001, I got transferred to Maharastra in a training centre. Again in 2009, the charm of North East prompted me to have choice posting in upper Assam and I got Dibrugarh, the tea city of India, that too with a promotion.
There is a place called Chabua (cha means tea and bua means planted) in Dibrugarh where the tea was first grown hence the name. I got the command of my troops based in Chabua in a makeshift government accommodation all surrounded by tea gardens and the headquarters was located at 40 km away in police line Dibrugarh. There was an Indian Air Force station nearby where fighter jets like SUKHOI-30 were also placed, which is strategically located keeping our hostile countries in view. By 2009 Assam was far more peaceful than before barred few incidents of insurgencies.
My camp at Chabua near a big tea garden like Tata Tea, Goodricke, Assam Tea Company, etc to name a few. There was greenery all around and pristine surrounding never ceases to give happiness to the heart.
The first term I heard which was of some significance to my profession was “SULFA” i.e. surrendered ULFA. The central government has made a surrender policy for militants according to which, the militants can surrender unconditionally and also can keep weapons with themselves. They will be tried in the court with minimum punishment and can be placed in open jail during that period. Lured by such lenient policy lot of ULFA militants surrendered in the late 90s and they came into the mainstream but now they started acting like an organization which has hierarchy as before in ULFA. In short, now they have legally organized extortionists with the immunity of government.
In Dibrugarh, I came across one such powerful SULFA (name withheld) that enjoys the Assam Police Commandoes protection, rides in cavalcade and control all the outsourced government contracts. He is treated like VIP in all state functions and sits In the VIP area. Most of the cases of disputes in the ara are sorted out in his den. He and one of his accomplices have floated his own real estate company surprisingly managed by one retired senior paramilitary officer and they are now CEO and MD of such company. If you ask anyone in town about his worth you will be told that around 2000cr and more but not less than that. One of the two also have been model in his heydays and while in ULFA went to Sri Lanka clandestinely to get the support of LTTE in their cause. Now the government contract is negotiated with them and bid by them only or their man. Even the contract of constructing the largest bridge of India on river Brahmaputra in Dibrugarh is done by them and their associates.
During their insurgency days, they used to take shelter in tea gardens and duly supported by the garden employees which they repaid after employing them in their so-called companies at fat salaries. Now with money and prestige lifestyle also changed like participation in car rallies, shooting in countries like Vietnam, foreign trips and much more. The ladies swoon overt and die to befriend them. The enormity of their influence can be imagined that they have placed one of their accomplices in each of the districts as the “commander” of that district. All the big businesses like liquor shops, petrol pumps etc. are directly or indirectly controlled by them.
Due to my “Marwari” (businessman) surname, I befriended many big businessmen there, especially in tea growing fraternity. This also makes me socially active among the masses. I attend the local functions and I met so many so-called SULFAs there. Now they belong to the elite class of Assam. I met the biggest in one function of one of my friend who got married in Assam. Most of the tea gardens have their inbuilt facilities like golf courses, playgrounds, water bodies for fishing etc. Interestingly the home of the self-styled Commander-in-Chief of ULFA, Paresh Baruah who is still at large and the most wanted militant commander of the country, was located in my area of responsibility. The village was considered to be the nursery of ULFA militants. Whether you take it my fortune or otherwise, I got to see that house duly guarded by Assam Police inhabited by his ailing mother. During her fag end the Government also offered a safe passage to Paresh Baruah to meet her, but interestingly he declined to cite that the cause of Assam for which he is fighting is greater than his mother. If you go by the book “RENDEZVOUS WITH REBELS-JOURNEY TO MEET INDIA’S MOST WANTED MEN’ BY RAJIV BHATTACHARYA, which is a true account of his meeting with Paresh Barua and other North East militants leaders in the safe sanctuary at an unknown location in Myanmar- India border, he is healthy and fine in his 70s. The cause of Assam is still alive though there is a sharp decline in the activities of ULFA cadres. Again after a stint of three years almost I got transferred to the Naxal hinterland of Jharkhand.
After almost two years at Jharkhand, I again choose Assam and again lucky to got pristine upper Assam. This time I was placed at a campus Khat-khati, located on the Nagaland- Assam border near a so-called cosmopolitan town Dimapur in Nagaland. The place is quite amusing as Nagaland is a dry state and there you find the best bars. There you find HONG_KONG market too known for chic fashion apparels mainly imported from neighbouring Myanmar.
People of North East particularly Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur are well educated and consider elves outsider due to the historical background they have for the last two centuries. The Naga Hills came under the British occupation from 1832 to 1947. The last battle of Naga resistance against the British was fought in 1879 at the village of Khonoma. In March 1880, a treaty was enacted between the British government and the Naga villagers. The British annexation of the Naga Hills did not extend to the eastern areas and the people living in those areas continued to be referred to ‘FREE NAGAS’ throughout the British period. No attempt was made to interfere with their lifestyles.
During World War 1, 2000 Nagas were sent to France as members of the British Army. They saw the enormous cost of war and, additionally the might of the empire. These Nagas returned and formed the Naga Club in 1918. Some historians maintain that this marked of political consciousness among the Nagas.
In 1929, members of the Naga Club drafted a memorandum that cane to be known as the Simon Commission and submitted it to the British government. It laid down the aspirations of the Nagas to determine their future. In their submission to the Simon Commission, the petitioners were very clear that they did not want the Naga territory to be included In the Reformed Scheme of India which had been done without consulting the Nagas. Two things were underlined: one, that the Naga Hills should be removed from the Reformed scheme and continued to be under British administration, but if this did not happen, the other petition was that the Nagas should be entitled to self-determination as in the past. They highlighted the fact that wide linguistic, cultural and historical differences existed between them and the Hindu and the Muslim population of India.
Six years later, the Government of India act 1935 was passed. It had taken heed of the Simon Commission and stated that the Naga Hills district was to be treated as ‘Excluded Areas” and no Act of the Assam Legislature were to apply to the Naga areas. Nagas were to be the special responsibility of the governor of the province in his capacity as crown representative. The act passed in 1935, came into effect only in 1937. After the First World War and during World War 2 the Britishers were fighting against the Japanese army in Burma and they knew that next would be Nagaland via Manipur. They sort out the assistance of Nagas to fight alongside them against Japanese promising them to be independent after they leave. After the war, Charles Pawsey, deputy commissioner of the Naga Hills, initiated an organization called the Naga Hills District Tribal Council (NHTDC). IN 1946 NHTDC changed its name to Naga National Council (NNC).
Two letters were sent to the British Indian Government in early 1947, political in nature, stating the distinct history of the Naga people and reminding the government of their loyalty to the crown during the war. Mention was made of the 1935 Constitution of India which put the Nagas in an “Exclude Area’ under the crown’s representative.
The NNC declined the offer stating that they stood for unification and freedom of all Naga Tribes. The NNC letter did communicate that they wished to continue their connection with India on all broad issues, but they desired to live as a distinctive community enjoying home rule in their own country.
Frustrated by their negotiations with various leaders of the incoming Government of India, the Nagas declared their independence on 14th august 1947, a day before India marked its independence from British rule. A.Z. Phizo became the head of NNC in 1949and pushed forward an aggressive campaign for independence. By this time, the Assam Police battalion and the Indian army had begun killing Naga villagers and burning villages.
The call for ‘Non –Cooperation’ with India was given by NNC under the leadership of Phizo. The 16th May 1951 plebiscite claimed that 99 per cent of Nagas supported independence. Civil disobedience followed. On 11th May 1952, the meeting of a delegation with PM Jawaharlal Nehru to inform him of Naga plebiscite ended in a ‘stormy interview’. Nehru ignored the Naga invitation to visit the Naga Hills for further talks. In 1952 first general elections held. The nagas boycotted it and empty ballot boxes were returned to Delhi. The NNC banned by the Indian Government and the Indian army was sent to tackle the situation resulting in deaths of many Nagas. The NNC cadres went underground and thus began the insurgency in Nagaland.
On 18th Sept 1956, People’s Sovereign Republic of Free Nagaland was established by the Free Nagas. this was followed by the formation of Federal Government of Nagaland (FGN). The Government of India referred to them as Underground Nagas. Members of NNC like, T.Muivah, Isak Chishi Swu and S.S.Khaphlang broke away from NNC and formed Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) on 31st January 1980. The stated objective of NSCN was to establish a sovereign state unifying all the Naga-inhabited areas of North East India and northern Burma. This resulted in the violent clashes between NSCN cadres and Indian Security forces. In 1988 NSCN further broke into another faction by S.S. Khaplang forming NSCN(K) from NSCN(IM) headed by Isak Chishi Swu as chairman and T.Muivah as General Secretary.
Isak Chishi Swu passed in 2016 and S.S.Khaplang died in 2017. On a political front, NSCN (IM) has divided its area of influence into eleven regions based on sub-tribe considerations and administrative convenience. In many areas, they run a parallel government. There are four ‘ministries’ including education, information, finance and foreign affairs and “ taxes’ and ‘revenues’ are collected from all the businessmen and workers in addition to what has been given to State and Central Government. The shops are supposed to be closed by 1700 hours as an unwritten rule by UGs and no one make unnecessary movement after that.
Government of People’s Republic of Nagaland (GPRN) was established by NSCN .the GPRN successfully contacted the United Nations Human rights Council in Geneva. Some reports allege that both Pakistan and China had financed arms and ammunition to the NSCN. Since the breakaway from the Khaplang faction, many other factions have been formed and currently, as many as eight are present. On 3rd Aug 2015 NSCN(I-M) leaders Isak and Muivah signed a framework agreement with the Indian Government in the presence of PM Narender Modi and NSA Ajit Doval. Currently, they are in a ceasefire and are accommodated in designated camps at Dimapur, Nagaland.
When everything is seen as peaceful in Nagaland, two major incidents which I witnessed marred the peace in recent times:
On 5th March 2015 dawned like any other day in Dimapur. But something happened that changed it drastically. A non-Naga man had been jailed the previous day on the charge of raping a Naga girl. Almost without warning, a mob quickly gathered in the evening, headed to Dimapur jail, broke open the gates and dragged the accused to the City Tower in the heart of the city and hanged him. I have never seen so many people together like that in Dimapur. One version of the story was that the Muslim man was seeing this Naga girl for quite some time and the man was already married to a Naga girl. They were both neighbours too. Things fall apart among them due to some money matters and the man was alleged for rape. The girl warned for dire consequences before filing FIR. Next day the news broke out in al the newspapers and media. The man was arrested and sent to jail. In the evening many students and political organizations gave notice to Deputy Commissioner for peaceful protest from Jail to City tower which turned out to be a violent mob, dragging the prisoner after breaking the jail and killed and hanged him. The jail guards were overpowered, the administration and police service proved defunct to avoid the blunder. No arrests were made and next day high-level meeting of district authorities and other senior police officers held. A training program for controlling law and order problem under CRPF where I was posted, chalked out. Sentiments of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants also took over the state. But the person lynched belongs to the family serving in the Indian Army for two generations, presently the brother. The incident died out there and then after 3-4 days and normal routine resumed.
In another incident, in October 2016 PM Narender Modi announced the demonetization of high-value denomination of Rs. 1000 and Rs500 and asked to be deposited in banks by 31st December 2016. It took the country in chaos and everyone rushed to the banks all of the sudden as lots of cash flow was in the market which is unaccountable also. Being Nagaland a tax haven and well connected with Kolkata and New Delhi by air and train, cash started flowing in in banks of Nagas who after charging their commission gave back the remaining. In one such unique case on 22nd November during my stay there, CISF personnel at Dimapur airport seized packets of currencies worth crores brought by chartered plane from Hisar, Haryana. The cash was claimed by Dimapur based businessman Anato Zhimoni, son-in-law of a former Member of Parliament and former Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphio Rio. The news spread like wildfire throughout the country. In his statement to authorities, he said that he had invested money in the northern region but due to demonetization he had no other way but to bring it back by chartered plane. It was later revealed that an amount to the tune of 24 cr was brought back in four chartered sorties and deposited in a private bank. The matter died down and nothing was asked further as no tax is in Nagaland.
On 20/8/14, that was the day when my heart was in my mouth. I was posted in Khatkhati, a small ghetto in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district. On that fateful day, I went to meet one of my school friend Rajeev, who had come to a place Numaligarh for some official work. Numaligarh is some odd 100 km from Khatkhati. He knew that I was nearby, he gave a call and we planned to meet. I planned to visit his office making it official by a visit to my CRPF camp nearby. I got the prior approval from my head of office, and also apprised him about the motive of my visit. He did not object and gave the green signal. At 0730 hrs I along with my four armed security personnel and a driver started for my destination by official vehicle Tata sumo. At that hour the roads were empty and had no traffic and everything seemed perfect. I had calculated the time and had planned accordingly. By 0930hrs we reached our camp and after doing a few formalities of official work I left at 1015 hrs again to meet Rajeev whose office was on the way back and approx 8 km from my camp. I also planned lunch at another tea gardener friend after meeting Rajeev. The office of my friend was on NH 39. I met him warmly and had a cup of tea with him and a few of his fellows. After spending 1 hr at his office I again left for my destination and lunch.
After going a few kilometres on NH 39 on my way back, I saw a gathering of people on both sides of the road. This place is called ‘tel garam ‘in local dialect as trijunction of Numaligarh Refinery Limited. I was sitting in the front seat beside the driver and my protection in middle and rear seats. As our vehicle approached near the crowd they started caving in and suddenly started pelting stones on our vehicle from both sides. We were clueless whatsoever about the situation. One stone as big as shot put struck my window and shattered it. As the luck would have it I always keep my window glass up when travel, for reasons inexplicable. And that day this eccentricity saved me. Now the mob started beating the vehicle with sticks and shattered all windows. I instructed the driver not to stop and keep driving slowly not to run over on anyone. They heckled the protection and tried to pull them out but didn’t succeed. Though we were armed with automatic weapons we could least do anything against the mob, which if done, had added fuel to the fire. Somehow we managed to get through it but still shocked at what we went through. Somewhere I thought that we had escaped the worst and now once we will reach our campus everything damaged could be taken care of. But my relief was short-lived.
After going another few kilometres I saw another set of the mob. We stopped at once some 500 m before that. Now we came to know that we were fishing in troubled waters as we could not go back either as we just escaped from the dreaded mob. At the same time drizzling started. I made a few calls for help from my nearby units but they showed their inability for any assistance. Meanwhile, news about this incident had spread like wildfire all over and calls started pouring in from senior offices and officials. Due to drizzling, there were no vehicles on the road which was in favour of us. Now we started oscillating between both mobs. Then I took a major decision. There was an Assamese type house on roadside and little in the depth and an open courtyard in front. We drove our vehicle in the courtyard and knocked on the door. A man of around 20 years opened the door. One of my Assamese protection told him our situation and ask him for permission to stay for a few hours till normalisation of the situation. As we were in uniform he didn’t object and let us entered in an empty room. There were four members in the house, man’s wife, his brother and his toddler son.
A TV was broadcasting live news of ongoing mayhem in the next room. I got the jolt of my life seeing the broadcast. The trucks were set on fire not far away from our shelter and videos of a mob attacking the police personnel on duty leaving them in blood. We were a little relieved that now we were safe and could go back once things become normal. After around 1 hour the man of the house came to us and told that the villagers were asking ‘whose vehicle is this ‘, he also requested us to vacate his house or else he would be in trouble for sheltering us.
The genesis of the crisis is between the tribal mostly work as tea garden labourers and Nagas of Nagaland, This disputed territory between both states covers approx 1200 sq km and is known as disputed area belt ( dab) since 1970. Two battalions (2000 personnel) of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are deployed as a neutral force to maintain status quo and law and order between the two states. It is directly under the Supreme Court jurisdiction. The dab is a fertile area that mostly falls towards Assam whereas the Nagaland side is hilly and undulated. That’s why dab is a bone of contention between both states.
Nagas are warrior tribe and by use of might and weapons, they dominated the dab area. The Nagas are also known for their free and easy life. As the region is fertile, they started keeping labourers for cultivation. Mostly these labourers are tribal of Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand. Initially, the agreement for payment was part of the yield and they started living there as well. This has been going on years without any trouble. But as time passed the population of tribal increased in manifolds whereas Nagas being educated remains constant in numbers. The tribal started claiming the stake inland too. And this becomes the matter of dispute every year during harvesting season.
On one such occasion in Aug 2014, 13 tribal were killed at point-blank by Nagas and their bodies were nowhere to be found. Due to this incident, there were clashes between tribal and CRPF troops accusing the latter of taking the side of Nagas and doing nothing in the matter. Stones were pelted on CRPF camps in that area. To take stock of the situation Chief Minister of Assam arrived next day but the tribal was too furious and they didn’t let him stay even for a minute and sent the CM back high and dry. Infuriated by this treatment he ordered lathi charge on the poor tribals, carried out by the Assam Police of Golaghat district. Next day all Assam Tribal Students Union wing of Golaghat district called for revenge with police. Little was known that they would chase them for their life. Moreover, a general population cannot distinguish between various forces whether state police or it is CRPF or army. They only know that whoever is donning uniform are the men to be taken for a ride and it happened that day too.
As time was passing we started getting comfortable. The family was Assamese and had nothing to do with these clashes; hence they didn’t want to get into melee. We requested them that we would take care if anything happened. For that, I send my driver outside in a towel and vest to hide ‘POLICE’ signage on a vehicle with mud and also cover the vehicle with bedsheets taken from the house. After some time passed and we had requested for tea and biscuits giving him money for that. But again after a while, the guy sends his wife along with toddler to request us to vacate the house as again the villagers were poking him that everyone knows that they don’t have any vehicle and if the miscreants saw they would trouble them for sheltering us, their enemies. Once again my Assamese protection man tried to convince the lady of the house and we also gave the little one Rs. 100 to please her.
After a few minutes, we felt silence in the house. I send my Assamese guy to inquire. He went and came back and told that the whole family fled to the village from back side fearing trouble as we were not leaving their place. Even then we were comfortable in such a situation until an old lady, an agony aunt type came and started yelling in Assamese from outside. I send my Assamese guy to inquire the matter and asked him to make her quiet by any means. After some time he came back and told that she is accusing us of getting the owner of the house in trouble and to get out of here immediately. At the same time, the rain stopped and traffic started plying again mainly media persons and miscreants as the curfew was imposed after the trouble. My guy was tackling the old lady but to no avail. Meanwhile, a few bikers saw the arguments with an old lady while they were passing. My guy immediately sensed the trouble and apprised me. They were only 5-6 miscreants at that time but slowly they called their other colleagues and they gathered in hundreds of numbers and immediately turned into a huge mob of around 1000 people. As I saw through the peephole from the window they approaching towards the house surrounding from all sides. Decided quickly and we all five escaped from the backyard, where there was paddy field filled with water up to knee level. After covering a portion of the field on the left side we came in an open area which was a parking area for earthmovers of the state department. As we came in open the mob started pelting stones and shouting ‘maro, maro’ (kill them). We took the shelter in drivers’ hut made of thatched roof and bamboo. Now, this was real trouble I was sure. I made a call to my boss and told him about the situation and admitted that we might not be able to come back alive and the vehicle might also be set ablaze by the mob surrounding us. My boss got infuriated and told me that he wants everything back safe and in order and asked me to do whatever. He disconnected the phone. Though after this call I was a little relieved.
My mind was racing against the time for taking immediate decisions amidst this furore and panicky situation. The mob was chanting abuses and hurling stones from the boundary towards the hut. My guys were also worried now. At the same time, two guys from the local news channel came to hut and asked me if we wanted to ask for help from CRPF through their channel. I refused at once as I didn’t want to be seen miserable to my 2.5 lakh strong force. Also, I could hear the sound of the beating of the body of my vehicle which we left in the courtyard. Now I took a decision and came out of the hut alone and there was a roar once again against us. I raise my hand intending to talk to them and listen to me to the top of my voice. There were few stones hurled towards me. Then the gate of that parking opened and five or six youngsters from the crowd came to the hut. They came to me and when I asked them to listen to me; they accused us of the killing of their brethren in dab area. They seemed to be the leaders of the group. I tried my best to convince them that we had nothing to do with those killings or with them whatsoever as we had gone for some work in another district and as we were returning we struck here in this chaos They were not ready to buy my version and continuously tried us to come out of the gate. I knew what they had in their mind once I got out of the gate. Reluctantly we all went up to the gate and once again I requested them to spare us. I told my guys to remain behind me at safe distance and I would be the first to bear the consequences. When we got near the gate I could hear the sound of shattering of glasses of my vehicle coming and I was really scared with the thought of vehicle being set on fire. I was not afraid of beating or lynching by the mob but only this because any damage to government property is subject to judicial proceedings facing which is a kind of humiliation equal to dying every day.
One of the miscreants disturbed my thought and asked us to put our weapons on the ground and to come out One of my guy behind me was about to do so when I ordered him to keep it in his hand. I told the guy firmly that we were not going to detach the weapons from us as they are an integral part of our body, come what may. One of the guys from outside shouted and challenged us to train our guns on them. I told everyone inside and outside the gate that the gun is meant for militants and terrorists and not for unarmed public like them, I won’t do that even if they beat me or kill me. During this melee, one lady from the mob outside the gate seemed little inclined towards me. She came towards me and I noticed it. I addressed her as ‘didi’[sister] and told her to make them understand our plight. Majority of the people were local and carrying machetes and sticks etc. Few of them were engaged in recording our situation on their mobiles, how helpless we were.
I don’t know what happened at that moment and the leaders discussed something and sent us back to hut and they went out of the gate. Not to forget that my mind was still racing for the vehicle. After few minutes, three of the guys came back to hut and one of them told us that they were President and General Secretary of All Assam Adivasi Students Union of Golaghat district and they had understood about our ordeal, but for them, it is tough to keep the mob calm and as they were high on emotions and anger. They told us that it is better if we escape from there for the time being till the normalization of the situation. Now we were on their disposal. They asked us to change our uniforms first which were quite visible from a distance. One of them brought five t-shirts and two sacks. We had put our weapons in one sack and other equipment like bulletproof jackets and helmets in other and change our upper combat shirts with t-shirts I asked him about our official vehicle. He assured that lady whom we talked was their sister and she would look after the vehicle. After this, we broke the rear boundary of that ground and escaped with those guys in a tea garden.
While walking in the garden I got calls from all the offices, colleagues and seniors. Once I tumbled down while talking to a senior but couldn’t leave the mobile so I hit my elbow on a rock, my fellow guys picked me up from the ground while I was still on call. Later my elbow developed a crackling sound forever. After going 500 meters deep inside the tea garden we reached a place which was in-depth and opens. We all set there. It was around 1430 hrs now and we discussed us. I asked the guys why they are on the rampage. One of them told that a Naga CRPF officer deployed in dab area was hand in gloves with the Naga miscreants who had killed their colleagues. I told them that that CRPF is a neutral force and serve the country irrespective of the caste, creed, religion and region and the officer they are talking about is one of the finest officers of CRPF. Luckily I was having a text message which was passed on to me after going through the hierarchy. It was meant for that particular situation instructing all the CRPF personnel deployed in that district and it was ‘ CRPF will not fire on the public at any cost ‘. I showed them that message which was in my phone and had been forwarded to me by my boss as I was performing the duties of staff officer and supposed to instruct all the units under jurisdiction i. e. in six districts of upper Assam. When they saw that message it worked like a miracle. Those leaders rang their various groups who were involved in riots and asked them not to harm any CRPF personnel whatsoever. They also told us that the mob especially the tribal hardly listen to them when on a rampage. I was also worried about our vehicle and was asking continuously now and then and in return, he was asking his sister who was guarding that.
When we were thinking that the situation was going to get normal we were proved wrong. The news arrived on one of the leader’s phones that police had fired on the mob and had killed six civilians. Section 144 was imposed which prohibits assembling of 5 or more persons at one place and if it happens police could use the force. The leader who got the news told us that the situation was now more grave and if someone found us then we would not be spared at all and implementation of section 144 had least to do any deterrence to the mob as most of them were illiterate and didn’t understand the law and they had the attitude that if the police would harm them they also had to take care of them afterwards as well, for food and treatment. So, in any case, they would be the guests of police. Meanwhile, le I got the call from my boss, who politely asked me, ‘is everything alright”. Keeping my nerves intact I replied as gently ‘yes sir and we will reach in an hour or so’. . My boss instructed me to reach as soon as possible.
By 1700hrs it started drizzling and we took refuge in a tea garden labourer’s hut. They made sitting arrangements for us. There was strong urge to have a cup of tea so I asked the guys with us to make some and offer them the money as well but they refused money and instead served us tea and parathas which tasted like never before even in the time of crisis. We had our tea and parathas and thanked them. More people from other huts came to see us. We kept on talking till1900 hrs. I asked our perpetrators cum rescuers when we were going to leave. The guys told me that they are analyzing the situation and would leave only if 100 % sure for the safety of us and them. After some time they said that we could leave but through the interiors of tea garden instead of the main highway i.e. NH 39. They offered us to escort us till Mizo battalion camp at a distance of around 15 km. Our vehicle was still in that house. Now we were approximately 1 km away from that house. I asked the guy if they know how to drive and after receiving affirmation I gave the keys of the vehicle to him instead of my driver, to bring it as I was still apprehensive of the situation. He brought the vehicle which he told was submerged in the ground due to heavy rains and slushy ground. They took the help of locals to get it out.
They took four bikes and escorted us through the muddy terrain inside the tea garden. Some luck was there as the headlights of the vehicle were still intact and working, which we surely required in that area. After an hour or so we reached the Mizo battalion camp which was established to guard one of the prominent tea gardens of an influential person. Our escorting team bade us goodbye and returned and I thanked them from the bottom of my heart. The camp in charge was informed before our arrival. The Subedar Major of the camp welcomed us and offered us food and bed, but being a hardcore vegetarian I politely refused whereas all my guys ate devotedly. I had tea instead. It was around 8.30 pm and I again got the call from my boss. I requested him that we would stay in the camp and would return early morning as it was quite late and we were safe in the camp. But he ordered that we had to return that day only at any cost that too safely. I asked my security guys who were in the mood to stay, to get ready. I requested the camp Subedar to escort us to the nearby CRPF camp i.e. Chowkihola which lies in another district and was around 20 km from there. He obliged but on the condition to provide fuel for their vehicle. I assured him that it will be done from our CRPF camp, Chowkihola.
He sent an escort with us till Chowkihola where we reached by 11 pm. The camp was commanded by an inspector of 20 battalions of CRPF and informed him about us. Staying there for a few minutes we left for our camp, The roads were clear and after a few minutes, we were on NH39 i.e the main road in Karbi Anglong district. Thoughts were racing in my mind. Everyone was happy. Soles of my shoes were detached and were hanging. I threw them from moving vehicle. I took off my soiled uniform shirt and threw it too. The wind blowing was giving the impression of freedom. At around 0100 hrs we reached the campus through gate no. 1 reserved for officers only to avoid any attention in other ranks on seeing our condition. After reaching in my quarter I asked everyone to sit and made tea for them. I also informed the control room about our arrival. After some light heart talks with my guys and motivating them we departed to our respective quarters.
The sleep was miles away from me. I couldn’t get a wink. The trauma was too strong. Somehow the night passed and I got the call from my boss at 0500 hrs on internal phone. . It was expected by me so I keep my nerves intact and replied to him. He asked me whether everything is alright, had we got any injury and damage if any. I replied that only a little damage to the vehicle. He asked me to get it repaired immediately and asked me to meet him in his office at 0800 hrs. I sent the vehicle for repair and spent Rs. 10000 from my pocket to avoid any official paperwork. I went to the office as usual with a smile on my face and head held high as nothing happened. I thank all my colleagues once again and also called those saviours to my camp for a feast. It was a new lease of life and it still gives me goosebumps after so many years.
My sojourn came to an end in May 2017 when I got transferred to Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.
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