As Baksa crawls back to normal life with the arrest of five persons, including a woman, in connection with Friday’s killings, security agencies are worried that the district, one of the newest in the state, is fast becoming Assam’s killing fields. In Guwahati, the state Home department has listed six reasons that make Baksa vulnerable. These include inaccessible jungles, including Manas National Park that is contiguous to Royal Manas National Park of Bhutan on the other side, shortage of police personnel on the ground, and presence of villagers inside forests.
“Baksa is Assam’s new killing fields. There’s hardly a week when you don’t get news of abduction, killing or a person going missing,” said Jamsher Ali, convenor of BTAD Citizens’ Forum. “At least 55 persons have been killed by militants this year, and all of them, barring one, were from the minority community,” added Ali.