July 25, 2012
To,
Shri Tarun Gogoi
Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam
OPEN LETTER AND APPEAL
Dear Sir,
We, citizens of India committed to its deep secular and peace loving ethos
appeal to you as head of the government in Assam to take all steps to
ensure that violence stops, security is given to all displaced and
dishoused by the violence so that they may return to their homes
forthwith; adequate reparation for the lives lost and homes and other
properties destroyed is paid and more than anything else a Fair and Time
Bound Judicial Investigation by a Sitting HC Judge is conducted into the
build up and fallout of the violence.
What concerns us deeply is the divisive discourse that seeks to create
legitimacy for the violence by words and phrases like "infiltrators."
Since the mid 1990s tensions have simmered between the majority Bodo
Councils and Muslim settlers despite the fact that the latter status was
recognised in the Assam accord. Yet under the guise of discriminating
between the two a small skirmish blew into a full blown communal
conflagration; while the ethnicity of the 32 persons who lost their lives
does not matter, the fact that the five persons who lost their lives to
police bullets are from the minority has generated fear. There are already
1,70,000 persons in relief camps and they must be assisted with due
security to return to their homes immediately. Dialogue must begin between
the majority Bodo villages and the Muslim settlers for integrated
rehabilitation.
Respecting your commitment to intra community peace we appeal to you to
respond to this anguished appeal.
Teesta Setalvad, Mumbai
Javed Anand, Mumbai
Dr Asghar Ali Engineer, Mumbai
Ram Puniyani , Mumbai
Irfan Engineer, Mumbai
Hasan Kamal, Mumbai
Zafar Agha, Mumbai
MM Tirmizi, Ahmedabad
Rupa @Tanaz Mody, Ahmedabad
Sairabehn Salimbhai Sandhi, Ahmedabad
Salimbhai Noormohammed Sandhi, Ahmedabad
Tanveer Jafri, Surat
Rajendra Prasad, SAHMAT, Delhi
Ram Rahman, Delhi
M
K Raina, Delhi