State delegation meets Muslim leaders in Bangalore, receives reiteration on safety of all Sikkimese

GANGTOK, 21 Aug: The State Government delegation in Bangalore to check on the ground situation and ensure the continued safety of Sikkimese studying and working there, today met with leaders of the Muslim community in Bangalore. The Muslim elders reassured the delegation of their full commitment to keep the Sikkimese, as also all people from the North East in Karnataka, safe and reiterated that the fear psychosis had been triggered by rumours in which the Muslim community had no hand.
A delegation from Sikkim comprising of Speaker KT Gyalsten, HRDD Minister NK Pradhan, Gangtok Deputy Mayor Shakti Singh and Namchi Municipal Council vice chairman NH Ansari accompanied by HRDD Secretary CS Rao is presently in Bangalore and had met the Chief Minister of Karnataka and other Ministers and police officials yesterday with the same concerns.
Speaking from Bangalore, Mr Ansari informed that the delegation led by the Speaker interacted with Muslim leaders and members of Muslim organizations in Bangalore today, who convinced them that the people, especially students, from the North East including Sikkim are safe in Bangalore.
He further informed that Muslim leaders also hosted a tea party for students from the North East to reassure them and strike closer bonds. They Muslim elders stressed that rumours should not be paid heed to and the students also took the assurances positively, Mr. Ansari informs.
The Sikkim delegation, which reached Bangalore on Sunday evening is returning to the state on Wednesday morning after meeting all concerned in Karnataka.

Muslim elders host Peace Meet with NE students at Jama Masjid

M. PRADHAN & S. GYALTSEN BHUTIA
BENGALURU, 21 Aug: A ‘Peace Meet’ was held here at the Jama Masjid by the Jama Masjid Trust between the students from the Northeast, including Sikkim, living here and the Muslim community to jointly device ways to lift the fear psychosis which has gripped North-Easterners here and dispel the rumours being spread about the Muslim community planning retaliatory violence on them [for the rioting in Assam].
The Jama Masjid Trust was represented by senior and respected members of the Muslim civil society, elected people’s representatives [MLAs] and religious leaders, most notably, Hazrath Maulana, who had come in from New Delhi specifically for this meeting. It was clear to all that the Muslim community was earnest in its efforts to reassure people from the North East of their continued safety all over India and to reiterate that the panic was triggered by rumours spread by vested interests and not them.
The meet saw frank and warm interactions and delved extensively on how the frayed situation could be improved and a healthy relationship developed and maintained between the two communities. All present had seen the wave of fear which the rumours had triggered and seen firsthand the exodus and lived through the tense phase which is still palpable here. Today’s meeting will definitely go a long way towards restoring some sense of normalcy.
All at the meeting, particularly the NE students in attendance, were unanimous in their gratitude towards the Jama Masjid Trust for having initiated the Peace Meet and especially grateful for the direction the meeting took – not only to bury the tension caused by rumours but also to devise ways by which the two communities could come closer together so that such misunderstandings did not repeat in the future.
Speaking at the meet, Hazrat Maulana introduced the NE students to the basic tenets of Islam and stressed that their faith did not allow any form of violence, even intimidation, and admitted that although excesses have been committed in the name of Islam, the present wave of rumour-mongering and threats, he insisted, was neither the handiwork, nor had the support of the community.
Other religious leaders also spoke on similar lines and further reassured that if they learnt of any member of their community here having played any role in spreading the fear psychosis, they would take strict action against such agent provocateurs on their own apart from handing them over to the concerned authorities.
Similarly, NA Haris, a Karnataka MLA, in his address, assured all assistance towards the students and stressed that each and every person from the North East was safe in Bengaluru and should concentrate on making good futures for themselves here and not be dissuaded by rumours.
The Bengaluru Assistant Commissioner of Police, VS D'souza, who was also present for the meeting, students from the North East commended “has been a great help for the students right since the time the first SMS threats were forwarded”. He also assured students that if the culprit [behind the SMS threats] is discovered to be from Karnataka, exemplary action will be initiated to prevent such incidents from repeating in the future.
Ms. Reni from Mizoram, a Professor at an elite institute here, also spoke at the meet, detailing the scale of fear which had gripped students from the North East and the scale of trauma they suffered over the past fortnight. The Muslim community’s initiative to hold a Peace Meet to reassure the community was thus welcome, she shared, adding that even parents and relatives back home will be relieved now. This relief would not have been possible without the proactive initiative of the Jama Masjid Trust to engage itself, all agreed today, confident that normalcy will now return to the Garden City.
[M. Pradhan & S. Gyaltsen Bhutia are journalism students from Sikkim currently based in Bengaluru]

Sikkim delegation meets Karnataka CM, receives assurance that no harm will come to any Sikkimese

CM DESPATCHES HIGH-LEVEL DELEGATION TO CHECK ON GROUND SITUATION IN BANGALORE

GANGTOK, 20 Aug: The State Government had been keeping a close watch on developments in South India ever since a mass exodus of people from the North East had begun from cities there on 13 August in the face of rumours of retaliatory violence targeting them for the ethnic/ communal rioting which continues to keep Kokrajhar in Assam tense. While the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police had been keeping in constant touch with their counterparts in Karnataka [the fear psychosis was strongest in Bangalore] and receiving repeated reassurances of all being well there, over the weekend, the Chief Minister directed that a high-level delegation be deputed to Bangalore to check on the welfare of the Sikkimese studying and working there and to call on authorities there to ensure that adequate provisions were in place to keep people from Sikkim safe in Bangalore. Although no untoward incident has been reported against Sikkimese there, given that the rumoured deadline for the backlash fell today, it was apt that this high level delegation was in Bangalore today to reiterate the security concerns vis a vis the Sikkimese in Bangalore.
The Sikkim Government delegation comprising of Speaker KT Gyalsten, HRDD Minister NK Pradhan, Gangtok Deputy Mayor Shakti Singh and Namchi Municipal Council vice chairman NH Ansari accompanied by HRDD Secretary CS Rao called on the Chief Minister of Karnataka Jagadish Shettar in Bangalore today.
And IPR press release informs that the Sikkim delegation expressed concern over the safety of Sikkmese living in Karnataka to which Mr. Shettar gave all assurances towards ensuring the safety of all Sikkimese and informed the delegation that all possible help would be extended in this regard.
The Chief Secretary and DGP of Karnataka and the Police Commissioner of Bangalore were also present at the meeting and they too fully supported the concern of the Sikkim Govt, the release adds.
It may be added here that yesterday, the Karnataka DGP, in a communication marked to DGP Jasbir Singh here, reiterated the assurance to parents and relatives of students and employees from Sikkim staying in Karnataka that the situation there was completely normal. He further conveyed that all the police stations in Karnataka have been instructed to promptly attend to any complaints given by any person from the North East and to take immediate and necessary action. Bangalore was policed today by some 17,000 law enforcement personnel to discourage any untoward incident.
The Sikkim delegation, meanwhile, is in Karnataka to check on the ground reality and was pleased to find that all Sikkimese residing there are safe and sound and thanked the CM of Karnataka on behalf of the Chief Minister of Sikkim for ensuring that no harm had come to any Sikkimese.
The delegation has reported that the situation is under control with no reports of any violence on any NE citizens except for the prevalence of a fear psychosis, the IPR release informs.
The delegation also met with a section of the Sikkimese students there and briefed them on the efforts that the State Government was undertaking. The students were requested to go about their studies as normal and were informed of the helplines set up in case they required any assistance.
The delegation also met with the Karnataka Minister of Higher Education who has directed the various colleges to conduct special classes for NE students who may have missed classes or exams in the aftermath of the rumours.
The NE states have also requested the Karnataka govt to help set up a NE office in Bangalore in the near future. It is further learnt that the Home Minister of Karnataka who is also the Deputy CM will be making a tour of NE states with a message of reassurance and as a confidence-building measure.
The Sikkim delegation will be meeting leaders of the Muslim community in Bangalore on Tuesday to further ensure the safety of Sikkimese and other NE citizens.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pawan Chamling has appealed to all the people of Sikkim, especially those in the cities gripped by rumour-mongering about a backlash, to remain calm and united. The Chief Minister, the IPR release conveys, has called for the Sikkimese people to stay united in the face of this adversity and stressed that even in New Delhi all the parties are united in sending out a clear message of unity so that the ugly events are brought to a close and the culprits and perpetrators are found and punished.

HELPLINE DETAILS FOR ASSISTANCE OF PEOPLE FROM NE AND SIKKIM CONVEYED BY KARNATAKA DGP IN HIS COMMUNICATION TO SIKKIM DGP:

Bangalore City: Helpline No: 080-22942222, NE Control Room: 080-22250999

Nodal Officer: VS D’souza, cell: 9480801020, 080-22200920

Police Control Room: 080-22943322, 080-22942865

DGP Karnataka: 080-2294277

State Control Room, Karnataka: 080-22942, 080-222117

Panic flight could damage image of Northeasterners in the long run

HOME MINISTRY ISSUES NATION-WIDE BAN ON BULK SMSes AND MMSes
EVEN SMS THREATS APPEAR TO BE RUMOURS
RUMOUR-INDUCED EXODUS COULD IRREVOCABLY DAMAGE RELIABILITY AND SET BACK EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS IN THE LONG RUN FEAR PROFESSIONALS

GANGTOK, 17 Aug: The Prime Minister was joined by Parliamentarians cutting across party lines today to reassure people from the North East that they were safe and welcome all over the country and those who have stayed behind in what has developed as the ‘Ground Zero’ of rumour-induced panic – Bengaluru/ Bangalore  – insist that the city is safe. But these appear to have met with only limited success as people continue to flee Bengaluru even as the situation has normalised even in Pune in Maharastra, the only place where incidents of actual attacks on North Easterns were reported last week. It needs to be added here that panic flights were reported from Chennai and Mangalore as well today although these were at much lower levels than the exodus from Bangalore where special trains to the northeast were pressed into service today as well.
Mikchung Bhutia, an IT professional from Sikkim who has been living in Bangalore for a while now and keeps in close touch with the Sikkimese population there, confirms that neither he nor anyone he knows has received any SMS or MMS threatening people from the North East [as a retaliatory action against the violence seen in Kokrajhar in Assam].
The rumour mongering, however, seems to have gone a step ahead with the purported threat SMSes now appearing to be a rumour in itself.
Speaking to NOW! from Bangalore, Sweta Rai from Sikkim who teaches in a Bangalore school, echoed Mr. Bhutia’s information, confirming that she has not received any message threatening or warning her of attacks and neither has anyone from Sikkim she knows received such SMSes.
“It is all second hand information; someone who knows someone claims to have received such SMSes. There is absolutely nothing of the sort that people are scared of happening here,” Ms. Rai asserted, adding that she has siblings living in different parts of the city and there have not been any untoward incidents anywhere.
She adds that the Bangaloreans have become so conscious of the situation that they are going out of their way to make sure that people from the North East feel secure and welcome in the city. In some instances, to and fro police escorts are being provided to college students to reassure them of their safety.
As evidence of Bangalore being safe, police authorities there inform that the helplines opened there for people from the North East have received many calls, but all to enquire on the situation and none to report of any untoward incident or threat.
The exodus however continues and since the panic is believed to have been triggered by threat SMSes, the Ministry of Home Affairs has announced a ban on bulk SMSes and MMSes for 15 days starting today. More than five SMSes or MMSes from one number cannot be sent in one go. MMSes have been restricted to 25kb. The ban has been imposed throughout the country.
Meanwhile, the Bangalore police today arrested three persons for allegedly spreading rumours regarding the issue. This too, was initially misreported in the media as arrests made for attacks on North Easterns. By evening, it was confirmed that the arrests were not for attacks [none of which, the authorities in Karnataka insist have taken place yet] but, as mentioned, for spreading rumours.
The Bangalore Police have intensified patrolling in localities populated by people from the northeast, including college-going students, blue-collar and white-collar employees, security guards and women working in beauty salons. This was confirmed by students and professionals from Sikkim based in Bangalore while speaking with NOW!
Also as part of the investigation, cyber sleuths attached to the Bangalore city police crime branch have started cracking at the sensational messages sent through SMS and MMS, e-mails and postings on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter that caused panic and fear among the people from the region.
As per media reports, most of the messages received on mobiles through SMS or MMS are originating from Assam and other North Eastern states, Mumbai and Kolkata in Hindi, Assamese and Bengali without names or place from where they were being sent.
“The fact that only northeast people/ students are getting rumours and not others on their mobiles as SMS or MMS reveals that they are being sent from the north-eastern region to their kith and kin living in Bangalore or other cities of the state,” a Karnataka police official was quoted as saying in a national daily.
Most of those fleeing the city have confirmed as much, stating that they were leaving not because they have been personally threatened but because family at home is insisting they return, fearful that something might happen.
Speaking from Bangalore, Mr. Bhutia insisted that all was well there.
“There is nothing to fear, I would particularly like to tell the parents of students here not to panic. Their children have come here to study and if they return home when there is no reason to, their studies will suffer,” he pointed out.
Mr. Bhutia has been receiving frantic calls from parents worried about their children studying in Bangalore for the past three days. “The moment you fear, you are playing into the hands of people ready to take advantage of it,” he adds.
The exodus, especially because it is based on rumours, has severely, possibly even irrevocably, undermined the credibility of North Easterns working here, Mr. Bhutia points out, adding, “Those working here, who have left, do you think they will get their jobs back when they return?”
It will be difficult for them to convince prospective employers of their reliability, a work ethic that the community had earned through years of hard work, he underlines.
About 2,40,000 people from the northeast region live in Bangalore and another 1,00,000 in other cities across Karnataka. Businesses have taken a bad hit with security agencies, restaurants, beauty parlours, which mostly employ those from the North East, suddenly short of manpower. On last count, as many as 20,000 people from the North East are believed to have fled from Bangalore alone.

Chief Secretary and DGP speak to counterparts in Karnataka, receive reassurances that Sikkimese are and will remain safe in Bangalore

RUMOUR-MONGERING WINS, PANIC FLIGHTS CONTINUE FROM BANGALORE AND PUNE

SIKKIMESE STUDENTS IN PUNE AND BANGALORE CONVEY THEY ARE SAFE, BUT WISH THEY HAD REPRESENTATIVE BODY THERE TO FEEL MORE SECURE
GANGTOK, 16 Aug: Rumour-mongering has won the day, and reassurances from every concerned agency have failed to calm the panic which has gripped the people from Northeast in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. For the second consecutive day today, students and professionals from the North East based in these three states continued to flee in droves, fearful that retaliatory attacks on people from the North East following the communal violence in Assam will eventually reach them if they stayed behind. The mainstream’s established ignorance about the people of the North East has convinced people from these parts that any backlash against the communal violence of Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District of Assam will sweep all people who might look like that they are from the North East. Needless to add, this includes the many from Sikkim who work and study in the cities in the grips of the latest wave of rumour-triggered fear psychosis.
Speaking to NOW!, Swabhaw Gurung of Sikkim who is working in Pune at present, informed that although there were reports of attacks on some North Easterns in the city last week, no new incidents have been reported so far.
Panic and fear have however gripped people from the North East residing in Pune, he said, adding that most choose to remain indoors while others are planning to leave the city as soon as possible. “Though the violence has largely died down, people from the North East are scared and most students are planning to head home... My brother who is also studying here is planning to leave in a day or two,” said Swabhaw.
The pall of fear is real even if the threat is largely imagined or instigated, but given that so many from Sikkim live in the panic-struck cities in question, the State Government, through the Director General of Police and the Chief Secretary enquired after the situation in Karnataka and sought special consideration for people from Sikkim based there.
The Director General of Police was approached by concerned parents and representatives from the civil society today regarding rumours of violence coming in from Bengaluru.
Following this, it is informed that the DGP contacted the Karnataka Police to check on the situation. The Karnataka police, as they have been maintaining all along, is also reported to have asserted to the Sikkim DGP that claims of targeted violence in Bengaluru are just rumours and reassured that all necessary action to keep people from Sikkim safe would be taken if required.
The DGP is also reported to have provided names and locations of where Sikkimese students live in Bengaluru and the Karnataka police, in turn, assured to send police personnel to provide security to the students in case of any untoward incident.
The Chief Secretary of Sikkim, Karma Gyatso, also spoke to his counterpart in Karnataka, SV Ranganath, today and conveyed the Sikkim Government’s concern about the safety of Sikkimese residing in Bengaluru, an IPR press release informs.
In response, the Karnataka CS gave full assurance as regards the safety of Sikkimese in Bengaluru and added that the law and order situation in Karnataka was under control.
Mr Gyatso has also requested the Speaker, KT Gyaltsen to take up the issue with the Karnataka Government during his visit to the State which is scheduled for 18 September.
The backlash against people from the North East came to the fore when a Muslim rally against the Assam riots held in Mumbai went out of control killing 2 and injuring some others. Following this, rumours of more attacks spread in other cities as well, especially in Bengaluru where there is a sizeable population from the North East. As the country celebrated the 66th Independence Day, news reports on the mass exodus of North Easterns from Bengaluru started pouring in. There are now reports of such mass exodus from Hyderabad and Pune as well.
Although attacks on North Easterns were reported from Pune from where there have been reports of almost 12 attacks on people from different parts of the North East, in Bengaluru the fear rides mostly on the basis of rumours - whether by SMS or word-of-mouth - about alleged attacks and alleged preparations for an attack.
A Sikkimese studying in Bengaluru, Kunzang Deki, tries to explain why the reassurances or clarifications are not having the desired effect and why fear and panic continues to spread in the city among people from the north east. “The police and the state administration are all saying that the situation is under control and full security will be provided to us but we do not feel safe. I haven’t seen any police patrolling or police personnel on the streets,” she told NOW!
“There have even been incidents of the police here warning students from the North East to be careful which adds to the fear,” she added.
A lot of students have taken a month’s leave from colleges and schools and are returning home, she added.
Kunzang, who stays in a PG accommodation, was leaving for her uncle’s place located in another part of the city, where she plans to stay till it is deemed safe.
Meanwhile, Swabhaw inform from Pune that two students and three working people from Sikkim [whom he knows] are returning home tomorrow. He is planning to send his wife back to Sikkim as well.
“The police have assured ample security for North Easterns here and individual state associations have provided helpline numbers… Sadly Sikkimese don't have an association or any helplines,” expressed Swabhaw.
Kunzang from Bengaluru also said that she is not aware of any association for Sikkim in the city.
On his take on the whole situation as a Sikkimese, Swabhaw says, “People have being misinformed and people with vested interests have taken advantage of the ignorance of the mainland Indians... It makes me feel unwelcome and marginalised in the Indian mainstream”.
Back in Sikkim in the meanwhile, student bodies have approached the authorities conveying their concerns regarding the security of Sikkimese students studying outside the state.
Students’ Union of Sikkim [SUS] convened an emergency meeting today on the recent incidents of attacks on the North Easterns in Pune and warnings spread through SMS in Bangalore.
An SUS press release informs that the meeting chaired by SUS president, Ugen Bhutia expressed its concern over the recent attacks on north-eastern students at Pune and strongly condemned such incidents. SUS also forwarded a letter requesting the “full proof security” for those from the North East, students in particular, to the Union Home Minister, the release informs.
SUS has further appealed to Sikkimese students in different parts of the country to have full faith in the administration and follow the security guidelines provided by the police administration in the respective cities.
SUS has also opened a help-line number to register the grievances of students in Bangalore so that the same could be forwarded to the concerned authorities through SUS. The helpline numbers are: 96478-74611, 80162-05290, 96354-04862 and 98323-08317.
Meanwhile, the Sikkim United Student Association [SUSA] submitted a memorandum to the Chief Secretary today on the security of Sikkimese’s students studying in different educational institutes outside Sikkim.
A SUSA press release informs that during the meeting, the Chief Secretary informed SUSA members that this issue has been taken seriously and informed them of his conversation with the Karnataka CS. Interestingly, the release adds that if some unfortunate incident were to happen to Sikkimese students outside Sikkim, then the Sikkim government will be held responsible.
The Sikkim RTI Forum joins issue with the incidents in the three states and its general secretary, DK Chhetri, in a press release issued today postures, “Its an outrage that our childrens are dying out there and the shameless NorthEast CMs have zipped their lips”. It needs to be clarified here that no incidents of violence against people from the North East have been reported to in Bengaluru and no fatalities have been reported from any of these attacks.
“If politics is a pressure game then, our North East Chief Ministers must speak unitedly to the Central Govt. to provide protection to our children or to form effective Law. We believe the Central Govt cannot bear the pressure if applied from a United North East Chief Ministers,” the release states, even adding, “The discrimination to our childrens has reached its height, and maybe we have reached the verge of retaliation for self protection”.

Sikkim student killed in scuffle with roommate in Bangalore

GANGTOK, 13 Sept: A 21 year old engineering student from Sikkim was reportedly killed in Bangalore. The deceased reportedly hails from Gangtok as does the accused who was his roommate in Bangalore.
According to reports, the two got into a scuffle on 09 September when the deceased was reportedly stabbed in the chest with a pair of scissors. In the incident, another Sikkim student is also reported to have suffered injuries.
The deceased was rushed to a hospital and succumbed to his injuries there, it is informed. The accused has been arrested by the Bangalore police. In another incident another Sikkimese student, as yet unidentified, is reported to have succumbed to a suspected drug overdose in Delhi.

Girish wins best vocalist award at Yamaha Asian Beats

GANGTOK, 28 Aug: For all the Metal- head fans who were wondering what Girish n the Chronicles were upto since their path breaking performance at the Montenegro International Suncane Skale Festival in Europe last July, comes welcome news of local front-man Girish winning the “Yamaha Asian Beats 2011” competition at the Kyra MP Theatre in Bangalore yesterday. This win has now earned him the title of the ‘best vocalist in the country.’
After around 50 gigs through various venues in the country and abroad following their international debut, Girish Pradhan, performing as the “guest” vocalist for Guwahati-based “Silver Tears” [considered one of the best rock outfits in the region], competed at the zonal competition for the Yamaha Asian Beats title which began in Guwahati in July this year and came first among participants from eight states.