TMC MPs meet Tinsukia victims: 'We're with you'

Guwahati: Amid simmering tension after the killing of five Bengali youths, a team of Trinamul Congress leaders from West Bengal visited the families of those massacred by the outlawed Ulfa(I) rebels in Assam and vowed to strengthen their voice in brining the perpetrators of the crime to book.

The delegation comprising Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O’Brien and Nadimul Haq, Lok Sabha MP Mamata Bala Thakur and MLA Mahua Moitra told reporters that they visited the aggrieved families on the instructions of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who has expressed anguish over the killing and said an environment of violence was prevailing all across the country.

Five members of the Bengali community, including two of a family, were picked up and killed by Ulfa(I) rebels on Thursday night in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district.

The members of the delegation also gave '1 lakh to each of the families as compensation from the West Bengal chief minister. “We’re with you. That is why we’ve come here. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has sent us here to be with you,” said Ms Thakur, who also broke into tears with aggrieved family members.

“This is a humanitarian visit. This is a visit to stand with the grieving families,” said Derek O’Brien, who alleged that an environment of violence was now prevailing all over the country, be it Assam or Gujarat. He told reporters his party would ensure that those responsible for such a heinous act would be brought to book. “We will raise the issue of the killing in Parliament too,” he added. The delegation assured the families of all help and vowed that the Trinamul Congress would stand by Bengalis in Assam.

A TMC delegation of six MPs had also gone to Silchar on August 2 to assess the situation in Assam in the wake of the publication of the complete draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) on July 30, but were stopped at the airport. They were not allowed to leave the airport and were sent back the next day.

Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said the state government had taken the Trinamul Congress delegation’s visit positively as any political party had the right to visit victims of an attack.

The Assam police has, meanwhile, intensified its counter-insurgency operations in the Upper Assam district. Asserting the involvement of Ulfa(I) rebels in the killing, security sources said te Ulfa(I) rebels suspected to be involved in the crime are feared to have crossed over to Myanmar.

Indicating that few linkmen have been picked up by the police, the security sources said an armed group of Ulfa(I) rebels was reported to have been moving in Tinsukia district for past few weeks, but the police had failed to foil their gameplan.