Assam CM orders shoot-at-sight in restive Dhubri
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday (June 13, 2025) gave a shoot-at-sight order to check communal tension in Dhubri town, about 290 km west of Guwahati. The town, headquarters of the Dhubri district, has been on edge since the severed head of a cow was found in front of a Hanuman Temple on June 8, a day after Id-ul-Azha (Bakrid) was observed.
'The matter was resolved as leaders from both communities met, but the head of another cow was placed at the same spot the very next day, escalating tension,' Mr. Sarma told journalists after visiting Dhubri to assess the law-and-order situation there.
'I have ordered a shoot-at-sight in Dhubri if any kind of untoward situation happens. The order is applicable for any illegal activities, including stone-pelting,' he said.
The Chief Minister also issued a directive to immediately arrest all known criminals in the district, which he said has been targeted by fundamentalist forces in Bangladesh for a long time. 'Central security forces have been deployed in the communally sensitive areas to maintain peace and order,' he said.
He also said there was an organised attempt to incite communal unrest through a campaign to make Dhubri a part of Bangladesh. He said secessionist posters attributed to a group named 'Nabin Bangla' were pasted in parts of the district – one even on an Army Signals infrastructure – calling for a fight to make Dhubri a part of Bangladesh.
'A series of events aimed at stoking communal violence indicates a Bangladeshi force is at work in Dhubri,' he said.
Mr. Sarma further said that a new network of cattle smugglers has increased its activities over the past few months, bringing in cattle in large numbers from West Bengal. 'We will investigate who is behind this network,' he said, asserting the government's commitment to enforcing law and order and defeating all communal forces.
Muslims, mostly Bengali speakers, are in the majority in the Dhubri district. According to the 2011 Census, Muslims account for almost 74% of the district's population.
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