‘NCM report is inflammatory’
The Asian Centre for Human Rights has accused the National Commission for Minorities of violating its mandate and issuing a “biased” and “inflammatory” report on Assam that may have increased the risk of attack on “people with Tibeto-Mongoloid features, mainly from the Northeast, in mainland India though they have nothing to do with the riots in Assam”.
In its report released on August 15, the NCM team, led by Planning Commission member Syeda Hameed and NCM member Keki N. Darwalla, had said that “the conflict was unequal as the Bodos were killing Muslims with AK-47s and there is impending fear of militant jihadis supplying arms to Assam”.
This report was made public and cited in media.
The Asian Centre for Human Rights, which wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh complaining about this report, pointed out that at least 15 per cent of Bodos are Christians, and another 50 per cent follow the animist Bathou faith. They are therefore religious minorities too, apart from being Scheduled Tribe.
“It is essential that all the National Commissions established with mandates to protect the rights of the citizens do not act in such a manner which is prejudicial to the interests of other communities. The NCM has regrettably failed on that premise”, the ACHR stated.
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