In Assam’s several citizenship determination processes, some narratives are lost — like that of the Gorkhas, despite a notification declaring them as Indians. And like that of Tara and Maya, now forever bound by two months together at a detention centre It was on a July morning, outside the Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) housed in a […]
Tag: Human Rights
Home slipping away, Myanmar refugee children find anchor in Mizoram schools
Displaced from their homes following the 2021 Myanmar coup, children find hope across the border in Mizoram Failure is the pillar of success, the headmaster says. She nods, her eyes downcast. The exam had not gone well. “She was nervous,” explains the headmaster, as the student walks away to join her friends. “It was her […]
Nagaland killings: ‘Not dead, nor alive… just suffering’
The white truck, the missing thumb, the cool guy who is now a ‘zinda lash’, the bullet marks — daily reminders in Oting of December 4, 2021, when 13 villagers were killed in an Army ambush followed by a clash. Back to the Nagaland village where it’s hard to move on: “If only it was […]
The children of Assam’s eviction drives: away from home, out of school
This article was originally published in The Indian Express in May 2023. Full article here. With their parents unable to afford private schools, and middle-and high schools too far from the resettlement camps, many children whose families have been displaced during eviction drives have had to drop out of school At 12, Habija Khatun is […]
Nagaland Killings: ‘Direct Marise…they shot right at us’
This article was an exclusive newsbreak, with survivors of the 2021 Nagaland security ambush speaking on record for the first time. The story was originally published in The Indian Express in December 2021. Full article here. On December 5, 2021, six civilians were killed in firing by security forces in “a case of mistaken identity” […]
23 shot at, 5 dead: In Assam, the BJP’s ‘extreme action’ against criminals
Since Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took over on May 10, at least 23 people have been shot at while in police custody, with five dead. They had been held for crimes such as cattle-smuggling, rape, murder, drug-peddling, dacoity. This is apart from deaths of 10 militants in encounters in the past two months. INCIDENTS […]
A day in the life of suspected ‘foreigners’ in Assam
‘He said mai, I said baba, we both just cried.’ Tears flow, hope strains, and separated by bars, family members and inmates cling on to gifts pushed through a grille. On a Monday morning at the Kokrajhar District Jail, paper and patience are both in paucity. “We don’t provide paper,” snaps the jailor across a […]
Call Me By My Name: How ‘Miyas’ in Assam are reappropriating the slur
They are young, full of dreams, and are calling themselves the ‘Miyas’ of Assam. What does poetry, identity and the NRC offer them? For three years every day at 5 pm, Mirza Lutfar Rahman’s voice would crackle on radios across Assam: “Nomoskar, Yuvabani’loi xokolu srotak’e moi Mirza Lutfar Rehman’e swagatam jonaisu” (Greetings, I am Mirza […]