Tura, June 27: “It was a scary sight altogether, as exchange of fire
took place for nearly 20 minutes. We were all praying to Allah with
folded hands for a second life”, said Azgar Ali, giving details of the
harrowing experience.
Azgar and three others from a village under Phulbari police station in
West Garo Hills were abducted on Wednesday by Garo National Liberation
Army and United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent).
All four traders were rescued unharmed by Meghalaya police and CRPF
personnel yesterday from Darekgre village, near Rongmasugre village
under Dadenggre sub-division in West Garo Hills.
The traders – Gulu, Shah Alam, Azgar Ali and Atwar Ali, all from
Kaimbathapara village under Phulbari police station, took Phulbari –
Dadenggre route, when they were abducted on gunpoint from Kantanagre
village at around 9:30 am on Wednesday.
In the firing, one Ulfa cadre Dharam Kanta Rai was gun downed, and
others managed to escape.
Narrating their experiences of a night in captivity, the four
explained the fear they faced and the hail of bullets that evaded
them.
“We were travelling by two pick-up van. There were close to 50
people, which included both tribal and non-tribal traders. We were
stopped at Kantanagre village and told to line up. They first asked
non-tribals to line up separately. They then asked us as to who did
business in betel nuts and took the four of us and asked the rest to
leave”, said Shah Alam Jamal.
He said that they were taken on foot through the jungles for almost four hours.
“Sometimes, they too seemed lost of where they wanted to take us. We
finally reached a house in the village of Darekgre village. We were
kept in an empty house. We were given food and asked to take rest. We
were not given any food at night and we too did not want it”, said
Azgar Ali.
“The next morning, they cooked food for us and we had chicken and rice
at around 8 am. We were then asked to get ready as we were supposed to
be moving further into the jungle. However, given the fact that the
day was warm, they said they would start at about two. They did not
confirm which group they were from and we were too scared to ask”,
said Gulu Bepari.
They said four of them had taken them on gun point, one of them
identified himself as Dharam Kanta Rai, who was from Assam. He spoke
to us in Bengali and Assamese.
“Rai was with us talking over phone, when he discovered the police
team was approaching, he spoke in some coded language and firing
began”, said Azgar Ali.
“Shots passed very close to us. Rai fired at the police and tried to
jump over the roof of the house. He was possibly hit in the process.
The other three being at different locations ran. The whole firing
lasted about 5 minutes and we saw his (Rai) body. He died on the spot.
The others ran immediately and did not get time to recover their
belongings”, stated Atwar Ali.
One of the victims, Gulu said, “I had managed to escape on the first
day but they got hold of me after an hour, they assaulted me for the
act”.
They reached Chibinang village, under Phulbari yesterday at 12:30 am.
All of them were escorted by police team.(SP News)
