'Dispur trying to drive a wedge between Garos and Rabhas'

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, March 17: The Garo tiol Council (GNC), an organization formed by the Garos living in Kamrup and Goalpara districts, today alleged that Dispur has been out to drive a wedge between the Garos and Rabhas in the state.

In a statement issued to the press today, the president and the general secretary of the GNC said that there were many ethnic clashes between the Garos and Rabhas in Goalpara and Kamrup district in the past. “The population patterns in some areas in the two districts made them very sensitive. Poverty, lack of education and political deprivation have made the people a frustrated lot who become infuriated when provoked by any forces with vested interest,” the president and the general secretary said, and added: “In such a backdrop, former Minority Commission chairman Allen Broke, who claims himself to be the special representative of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, and Dr. Milton Sangma, an intellectual from Meghalaya, have been campaigning in the area saying that the Garo Autonomous Council (HAC) has been declared. They are accompanied by known Rabha killers like Orbit Momin, Sunit P Marak, Jimi Marak and others. They have even been celebrating victory festivals. Such activities in the ethnically sensitive areas will only provoke another ethnic clash,” the two GNC leaders said.

The GNC leaders further said that taking into account the sensitive ture of the situation, the Government should see that no Rabha-domited areas are included in the proposed GAC so as to avoid ethnic clashes between the two communities.