Terrorists have killed 14 innocent Indian citizens by opening fire at a market in Balajan Tiniali market area, a few kilometres away from Kokrajhar town in Asaam, India on Friday (5th August). The attack was carried out using AK56 and AK47 rifles and hand grenades.

The Assam State government has announced a compensation of 500 thousand for kin of dead and 20 thousand for those who are injured in the attack.

One terrorist was killed by the security forces, while the others managed to escape. Armed forces are being deployed for combing operation to nail the terrorists. As per the local news sources, there were 3-4 terrorists involved in the attack. The heavily armed terrorists arrived in an van and started gunning down people who were at local market.

The attack appears to be perpetrated by National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).

Indian Government and Media has Downplayed the Nature of Attack

Indian government has officially not called the attack as a “terrorist attack”. While Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attack through a tweet but didn’t call it as a terrorist attack. Even the Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh didn’t call the attack as a terrorist attack.

Between 1992-2016, over 4200 Indian citizens have been killed and over 800 members of Indian army have been martyred.  Yet, Indian government doesn’t consider these attacks as terrorist attacks. More statistics about the people killed in Assam are available at: http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/assam/data_sheets/insurgency_related_killings.htm

Indian news media too didn’t cover the news with the rigour with which they would cover a terrorist attack on Indian soil. Most of the Indian News portals didn’t cover this attack as their major headline. Below are the screenshots of the official news portals of India, which shows how the media has downplayed the attack. NDTV was one of few news portals that called the attack as terrorist attack, while others referred it as a militant attack. Indian Express was the only news portal that carried the story about this attack as their front headline. 

Screenshot of Times of India website taken on 5th August 2016.
Screenshot of Times of India website taken on 5th August 2016.
Screenshot of Hindustan Times taken on 5th August 2016.
Screenshot of Hindustan Times taken on 5th August 2016.
Screenshot of NDTV taken on 5th August 2016
Screenshot of NDTV taken on 5th August 2016
Screenshot of The Hindu (www.theHindu.com) on 5th August 2016.
Screenshot of The Hindu (www.theHindu.com) on 5th August 2016.

Indian Express was the only news portal that carried the news as their major headlines. 

Screenshot of Indian Express taken on 5th August 2016.
Screenshot of Indian Express taken on 5th August 2016.

Building the narrative that All Terrorists are Muslims  

Indian government and Indian media has played the pivotal role in building a narrative among citizens of India that, all the terrorists happens to be Muslims. So, whenever a terrorist attack happens whose perpetrators are not Muslims, Indian Government and Indian Media considerably downplays such an attack so that it quickly fades away from the memory of Indian citizens.  This is done in a strategic manner to build the narrative that all terrorists are Muslims. 

(Featured photo: Copyrights – ANI & Indian Express) 

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