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Dhalpur Part 3, India – Soon after Friday prayers on the platform of a razed mosque, Ainuddin struggled to tell a series of events that took place the day before. His brother Mainal Haq was allegedly shot and killed by police in the Darrang district of Assam in northeastern India.
“The police shot him in the chest. The photographer beat him severely. Even after he died, they continued to beat him,” Enudin told Al Jazeera. The news that a photographer stepped on his bullet-filled body went viral on the Internet.
Beside him, other family members, including Mainal’s wife and his children, sobbed in two small tin-plate temporary shelters erected by the river on Thursday after their houses were demolished as part of the anti-occupation operation. Part. As many as 1,300 families are now homeless, living in makeshift tin houses.
His father said that Mainal’s body was taken away by the police. It was returned the next night.
Mainal Haq, a 28-year-old farmer, was one of two people killed in a government eviction operation in the village of Dhalpur Part 3, an island along the Brahmaputra River in Darrang District.
Ainuddin showed his brother Menard’s government-issued ID [Sadiq Naqvi/Al Jazeera]12-year-old Sheikh Farid was another victim of police opening fire on residents protesting their alleged forced displacement. Many families have lived there for 40 years. His family said that Sheikh was hit by a police bullet on the way to the local post office to get his national identity card.
Official records show that 11 other people, including 8 civilians and 3 policemen, were still receiving treatment at the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) south, after being injured on Thursday.
According to a medical bulletin issued on Sunday, Rejia Khatun, a 27-year-old girl from Darpur, still has a bullet in her abdomen.
Viral video
The viral video of the incident showed Mainal running towards the police with a bamboo pole. The clip shows that he was shot by the police, wrapped in a loincloth and vest. When he fell, the police could be seen beating him with a truncheon.
A local photographer was taken away by the district administration to record the expulsion procedure. Even though he was lying on the ground, almost lifeless, he stepped on Mainul. Later, I saw a policeman hugging the photographer.
On Thursday night, as the video spread on social media, sparking outrage at the atrocities, state police arrested photographer Bijoy Bania.
Family of Mainal Haq, his wife Mumtaz Begum (right) holding a child in their two small tin foil settlements [Sadiq Nqvi/Al Jazeera]The Assam government, led by the Indian nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), announced a judicial investigation into the incident, which caused an impact in civil society.
State Chief Minister Simanta Biswa Salma claimed that the villagers first attacked the police with machetes and clubs, and that the violence was the result of a conspiracy. He also claimed that outsiders instigated the villagers.
However, Salma, known for his anti-Muslim rhetoric, did not provide evidence for his string of claims. After accusing them of participating in the violence, the police arrested two locals from Kira Kara and Dhalpur Part 3 villages-Asmet Ali and Chand Mamud.
Land dispute
The land dispute stems from the state government’s decision to release government land from encroachment. Nearly a month after taking over as Chief Minister, Sarma announced that it would use approximately 25,666 acres (10,386 hectares) of land “for agricultural purposes.”
“…In order to protect our land and the identity of the Assamese from trespassers and intruders, squatters will be expelled from all areas of Assam,” he was visiting. A temple in Darpur later tweeted in June.
Critics accuse Salma and his Bharatiya Janata Party of targeting Bengali Muslims with a Muslim population of over 12 million in the state, calling them “aggressors,” “invaders,” and “illegal immigrants.”
For decades, the issue of undocumented immigration from neighboring Bangladesh has dominated the politics of this northeastern state with a population of 32 million.
The civil register published two years ago excluded nearly 2 million people, including Hindus and Muslims of Bangladeshi descent.
But the Bharatiya Janata Party, some local organizations and even the officials in charge of this activity now question the authenticity of this long and arduous process and claim that many “illegal immigrants” have managed to put their names in the citizen register. Because of these reservations, the process continues to be in a state of uncertainty.
Bengali Muslims living in the villages of Dhalpur Part 1 and Dhalpur Part 3 where the evictions were carried out said they were the victims. Locals say that many of these families moved from other areas such as Nagaon, Barpeta and Goalpara after losing their land in the 1970s and 1980s.
Local activist Saddam Hussain said: “After our land was washed away by the Brahmaputra River, our family moved here from Bapeta in 1982.” “We were earlier. It was in the neighboring Kilakala village. Two years ago, after our house was washed away by the river again, we moved to Dhalpur Part 3,” he said.
Locals pointed out that despite discussions with the government and regional administrations on resettlement and rehabilitation issues, the latest round of evictions began on September 20.
Hussein said: “The locals only received notice the night before, and the government came to expel them the next morning.”
“They have guns, we have nothing”
Chief Minister Salma quickly praised the government and police for “deporting 800 families and demolishing four illegal religious buildings.”
Local residents said that on September 20, the authorities asked them to move to a place close to the river, where flooding is prone to occur and it is not suitable for living.
“The depth of the water is 15 feet [4.5 metres] There. How will we stay there with our children. We will be swept out,” said Kamarudin, a daily wage worker sobbing after Friday prayers.
“There is no water to drink, no trees. In this high temperature, there is no water. We are using river water. Is the government going to kill us like this?” he asked.
At the same time, after the first round of evictions, two days later, on September 22, the villagers received another round of notifications late at night.
“When the notice arrived, people were already asleep. In the morning, when they barely woke up, the government and police were already there,” Hussein said.
Ainuddin, the brother of Menard Hack [Sadiq Naqvi/Al Jazeera]Hussein said the locals were angered. He said: “The government did not take any measures to restore the people who were deported before, but they came to deport more people.”
Ainuddin said that when the government arrived, he and his brothers were already demolishing their tin houses, although residents had begun to gather for protest meetings.
The situation then became violent.
“The SP (the chief of police) made it clear that they will expel us anyway,” Ainuddin said.
“People gathered to protest and seek more time. After discussing with the officials they left,” said Rafikul Islam, a resident of Part 3 of Darpur. “However, the authorities started to demolish houses,” he said. According to locals, the situation took a more turbulent turn at that time.
Although the police and the government claimed that their numbers far exceeded the mobs who attacked them with sticks and machetes, the locals said that the police opened fire.
“They have guns. We have nothing. How could we fight,” Ainuddin said.
BJP defended the expulsion
Mainal, he said it was the first time he hit the leg. Enudin tells how some children were arrested in the melee. “Then he went back and took them with a bamboo stick in his hand. Perhaps he thought that since he had been shot in the leg, he should risk being killed,” Ainuddin said. “Then he was shot in the chest.”
Mainal was impulsively “too emotional,” Ainuddin said he was holding onto a set of documents-Mainal’s village ID card, voter ID card and official ID card. “His name is in the NRC,” Ainuddin said.
“If people had the law in their hands, they could have tied them up and brought them to the police station. But they started shooting,” he said.
But the BJP leaders insisted that even though they claimed that the locals had agreed to a settlement, they still insisted that there was a conspiracy. “More than 8,000 to 10,000 people gathered together, armed with clubs and weapons, and attacked even after discussing with each other,” said Pabitra Margherita, a spokesperson for the Assam People’s Party.
“They amicably decided to vacate this place. In discussions between the government and the locals, they agreed that the government would provide two acres (0.8 hectares) of land and other facilities for the landless,” he said.
Chief Minister Salma reiterated his commitment to distribute land to the deported landless.
Complicated situation
In Assam, land is a sensitive and complex subject. The group representing the locals claimed that they were demographically overwhelmed by the Bengali.
Therefore, the expulsion was sanctioned by local pressure groups. Even in Dalang, where the deportation is currently taking place, some local organizations have been demanding to do so.
But on the ground, the situation is more complicated.
Hussein claimed that their family first purchased land from local Assamese when they came to the area in 1982, and then again purchased land from Bengali Muslims when they moved to Darpur two years ago. But these currency transactions are “kutcha” (unofficial) and have little legal value.
Due to the scarcity of official land contracts, it is common for people to conduct such land transactions.
“There is no doubt that this is government land. Legally speaking, there are no obstacles to the government’s execution of the eviction,” said Santanu Borthakur, an attorney at the Gauhati High Court, who represented people from Dhalpur. Some of the local people questioned the government’s actions.
But Borthakur explained why the government’s decision to continue the deportation was arbitrary. “In the whole of Assam, people have been living on so-called government land for a long time. If there is no resettlement plan, this kind of eviction shouldn’t happen,” he said, adding that there are many people in Assam. There is no title deed.
In order to regularize land ownership, the authorities announced a new policy under which land was allocated to landless indigenous peoples in the past.
The villagers prayed in what was originally a mosque.Many people collapsed in Friday prayers [Sadiq Naqvi/Al Jazeera]According to the data as of January 20, the total number of pattas (land deeds) and land allocations of more than 107,000 are mainly concentrated in Golaghat, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur and Jorhat in Upper Assam. In the Muslim-dominated region of South Salmara close to the border with Bangladesh, this number is zero.
“The government engages in politics in the name of Silungia [Indigenous person] Even if there is no definition of who is Khilonjiya,” said Ainuddin Ahmed, a consultant for the influential pressure group All Assam Minority Students Union. “The government’s hidden agenda is aimed at Muslims, ethnic minorities,” he said.
Ahmed claimed that the government claimed that all these people were suspected foreigners without any evidence. “All these people are Indians. They have identification, all the documents and their names are in the NRC,” he said.
Congressman Abdul Khaleque from Barpeta agreed. “These people did not vote for the People’s Party, so the government is now retaliating,” he said.
“We do not support encroachment. But in Assam, some people lose their land due to erosion every year. What did the government do to give them land,” he asked.
Khaleque insisted that the government should first propose an appropriate rehabilitation plan before proceeding with the deportation. “It will not play any role, it will only lead to further encroachment.”
Back to Dhalpur 3, Kamaruddin agreed. “How long shall we keep moving like this?” he asked.
“In another year or two, the government will come again to drive us away. They should give us a suitable piece of land so that we can live with our family,” he said, picking up a piece of tin foil from the rest of the house. .
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