People at the relief camp in Kokrajhar refuse to go back to their homes
In the aftermath of the ethnic clashes that erupted in Bodo-dominated areas of Assam last year, more than four lakh people moved to relief camps set up by the state all across the territory. While most of these camps have closed now, there are two that are still teeming with refugees.
The camp at Joyma has over 600 residents unwilling to go back to their villages.
80-year-old Mohd Awal Shiekh, from the Ramphulbil village, came to this camp, about 30 kilometres away, in November last year, driven by fear and desperation after his village was attacked by Bodos during the clashes with Bengali speaking Muslims.
Mr Sheikh, a tailor by profession, refuses to go back home.
"Let me die here. If that is God's will, then so be it. But I will not go back. That's for sure," he says.
Raju Kumar Narzary, Executive Director of the NGO Nersun, says the sense of insecurity has percolated deep down. "And the problem is that you do not have reconciliation," he points out.
Another camp in Kokrajhar town has 25 residents, all of them Bodos from a village 30 kilometres away. Most of these people are students like Ninay Basumatary, who have decided to continue studying in Kokrajhar instead of heading back home.
Activists working in the area say that merely providing security and compensation to these people is not enough. What is more important is reconciling the two communities, they say.
The district administration here says it is trying to rehabilitate the remaining people at the earliest. The bigger challenge, however, is to ensure effective reconciliation - something which has still not happened.