GUWAHATI: The All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) in Assam on Sunday expressed its willingness to send 10,000 Bodo youth to the India-Pakistan border if their services are required to help protect the nation.
“Whenever necessary, ABSU is willing to send 10,000 Bodo youth to the Indo-Pak border as civilian volunteers, following training, to defend the nation in its hour of need,” the student organisation said in a statement.
It recalled that during the Kargil War of 1999, the then insurgent group Bodo Liberation Tigers Force and the ABSU leadership had expressed a willingness to join the war effort under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government in order to safeguard the country.
The ABSU has postponed a scheduled conference on 12 May, citing the current "emergency and war-like situation" in the wake of the Pahalgam terrorist attack and continued cross-border terrorism from Pakistan.
“At this crucial moment, ABSU stands with the nation and is always ready to protect its integrity and sovereignty,” the student body stated, extending its full support to the Armed Forces of India.
The ABSU, which has long been at the forefront of the statehood movement, played a significant role in restoring peace in Assam’s Bodo-dominated regions. The area experienced decades of lawlessness as Bodo groups waged an armed struggle, but peace was eventually achieved following the signing of a peace accord between the Centre, some extremist groups, and the ABSU in 2020.
The Bodos are the largest plains tribal community in the Northeast. The Bodoland Territorial Council currently administers five districts in lower and northern Assam that fall under the Bodoland Territorial Region.