Biswanath: This year marked the 11th anniversary of the Sonajuli massacre. The occasion was celebrated by paying a tribute to the victims through a function arranged by the All Santal Students’ Union (ASSU), Biswanath District Committee at Sonajuli, with the help of various social organisations and residents. The yearly ritual followed, as lighted lamps and prayers were offered for the departed souls.
Biswanath MLA Pramod Borthakur was present in the programme and offered floral tributes, showing his solidarity with the grieving families. He repeated his demand for peace, harmony, and development in the border areas so that there would not be any such incidents in the future.
Furthermore, the Sonajuli massacre was an unfortunate incident that shocked the entire nation and imprinted itself on the collective memory of Assam. It was on this day in 2014 that a minimum of 30 innocent civilians, comprising babies, women, and senior citizens, were callously slaughtered by suspected National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militants in the Phulbari and Sonajuli regions on the border of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in the Biswanath district of Assam.
This horrific incident, which stands out as one of the deadliest attacks in the region’s history, still resonates with the affected families as well as the whole community. Even after more than a decade, the pain of this tragic incident still lingers in the minds of the survivors as well as in the minds of the affected families.
Residents said that “the security of this region still plays an imperative role,” being as it is located in “such sensitive borders.” The people of Sonajuli and adjoining villages have appealed to the government to solve these long-pending matters promptly and develop basic infrastructure and security systems so that the sacrifices of the innocent victims will never be forgotten and such a tragedy never take place again.