9 more bodies found in Assam

9 more bodies found in Assam, toll is 60http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/india/9-more-bodies-found-in-assam,-toll-is-60.aspxThursday, October 09, 2008BY MANOJ ANANDUDALGURI, ASSAMOct. 8: The violence has subsided but fear of fresh backlashes islooming large among those taking shelter in various relief camps. Thedeath toll in Assam carnage has gone up to 60, following recovery ofnine more bodies from the remote areas of trouble-torn Northern Assamdistricts since Tuesday.The security sources said that three bodies were recovered fromPanbari area of Darrang district, while two bodies each were foundfrom Paschim Hahiligaon in Tangla area, Mazbat and Jhargaon ofUdalguri district.There were reports of some more bodies being spotted in Kalaigaon, andRajapukhuri areas of Udalguri district. However, there was no reportof fresh violence from any part of the state.The superintendent of police, during whose tenure worst violence hitUdalguri district, Mr R.N. Prakash Tiwari told this newspaper that thepolice is maintaining a close watch over the situation and it waslimping back to normalcy.He, however, admitted that there were reports of more bodies spottedin some of the remote villages. "We are sending police teams in allthose areas wherever there are reports of unattended bodies. We aretrying to recover the bodies of all those killed in the violence atthe earliest as recovery of bodies after normalcy may becounter-productive and worsen the situation again," said Mr Tiwari,who was patrolling the area and interacting with the camp inmates toinstil confidence in them.Meanwhile, camp inmates in trouble-torn Udalguri district have raisedserious doubts over the role of Assam ministers and charged them ofprojecting the recent carnage as an ethnic clash between the immigrantMuslims and the NDFB, which is a largely Christian outfit.Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was quoted as saying that the rebelNational Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), fighting for anindependent tribal homeland, took advantage of the situation andresorted to large scale arson and killings.

MAHARASHTRA: 5 days later, Dhule still under

MAHARASHTRA: 5 days later, Dhule still under curfewhttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articlelist/msid--2128838597,curpg-3.cms11 Oct 2008, 0405 hrs IST,Prafulla Marpakwar ,TNNMUMBAI: Days after communal clashes rocked the tribal Dhule districtin north Maharashtra, the area is still tense. However, no freshincidents of violence have been reported. According to reports,properties worth Rs 25 crore were completely razed to ashes in theviolence."We have clamped indefinite curfew in the entire district. There wereno fresh incidents of violence in the area on Thursday and Friday,"said Sanjay Chahande, Nashik divisional commissioner. Followingdirectives of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, not only chief ministerVilasrao Deshmukh, but even Union minister of state for homeSriprakash Jaiswal visited the trouble-torn district to see forthemselves the post-violence situation.On Tuesday, the situation was so tense that the state administrationwas planning to deploy the army. However, the proposal was abandonedfollowing strong opposition by the local police.Senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse has demanded a probe under theCommission of Enquiry Act. "I feel the probe should be conducted underthe Commission of Enquiry Act and pending the probe, both collector PLawangare and superintendent of police Sunil Kolhe should be asked toproceed on leave," Khadse said.Khadse was the first politician to alert both Lawangare and Kolhe onthe possibility of violence during a procession on October 5. Soonafter the process started, Khadse personally spoke to both thecollector and SP, saying more policemen should be deployed on theprocession route since he had specific information on the possibilityof violence. "Both assured me that adequate police bandobast will bedeployed, but unfortunately they did not take this informationseriously," Khadse said.Alleging that it was a complete failure of the law enforcing agencies,Khadse pointed out that the manner in which the districtadministration tackled the communal violence leads one to theconclusion that there was complete lack of coordination among thedistrict agencies. "Additional forces from neighbouring Jalgaondistrict rushed to Dhule, but they were sitting idle for well over 3hours as there were no instructions for them," Khadse said.A senior home department official on Friday admitted that there wascomplete collapse of the law and order situation in Dhule."We imposed curfew in the entire district, but for the first threedays, there were not enough officials to implement the prohibitoryorders. Later, it was implemented, but only in select areas, whichclearly reflected bias on the part of the police," the official said.

Clashes in AP killed 3

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/3_killed_in_communal_clashes_in_AP/articleshow/3581909.cms3 killed in communal clashes in Andhra Pradesh10 Oct 2008, 2212 hrs IST,TNN BHAINSA (ANDHRA PRADESH): Three people were killed and six seriously injured in rioting and clashes between two communities in Bhainsa in Adilabad district on Friday afternoon. The district police said the situation was tense but under control. Additional forces have been rushed and prohibitory orders clamped on the town. Clashes were also reported from Nirmal town in the district and police have imposed prohibitory orders there as well as a precautionary measure. According to police, the clashes occurred when a Durga Puja procession was passing by devotees offering Friday prayers at a mosque. "The Durga Devi shobha yatra (procession) reached Masjid Panjeshah in central market around 1.00pm when devotees objected to the Durga processionists playing songs when their prayers were under way. This led to stone-pelting by both the groups and grew into rioting, stabbing and burning of shops and vehicles," one official said. Police rushed to the spot and tried to cool tempers and get the groups to talk to each other but their efforts went in vain. The clashes did not stop even after police resorted to a lathicharge. Finally, they fired 35 rounds of ammunition in the air. In all, about 40 shops and 12 vehicles were torched by the rival mobs. The dead were identified as Afsar Ahmed, 24, Abdul Kayyum, 22 and Bhutan, said to be a Marathi immigrant."All three died because of stabbing," Adilabad collector Ahmed Nadim told TOI. Adilabad Congress MP A Indrasena Reddy too told TOI that he had seen the bodies and found only stab wounds and no bullet injuries. Abdul Majid, who sustained a serious bullet injury in the firing, was shifted to Nizamabad first and then to Hyderabad. He is in a critical condition. Peace committees belonging to the two communities have been set up to initiate a dialogue, the collector added. Referring to Nirmal, Nadim said a few people had gathered there but were quickly dispersed and ban orders clamped. Adilabad SP Anil Kumar told TOI that the situation was tense but under control and that Section 144 had been imposed on the town to ensure normalcy. Observers said there was a major bungling by the district administration in allowing the Hindu procession to cross a mosque on a Friday afternoon. Not only that, the Durga puja procession, which comprised about 500 people, was accompanied by only one circle inspector, one sub-inspector and four constables. "In a town which has had communal clashes in the past, such inadequate measures are shocking," said one senior official.