SULEKHA BLOGS-ARCHIVES: KOLIA---THE KILLER---A SHORT STORY !

A SHORT STORY OF ‘KOLIA’ THE KILLER—A PROFILE OF A TERRORIST TURNING INTO A MAN OF PEACE!

The old man boarded the train at Jammu Tawi along with us. He must have been around 60 years of age. He was coming from SRINAGAR where he had gone to spend some times with an old friend of his. We were in the AC two tiered bogey. As we boarded the train, news came that BB cantonment at SRINAGAR had been fired upon and the militants had killed the sentry at the gate. News was that encounter was still in progress when the train steamed off. Everyone was scared to talk because the rail journey till Pathankot was full of dangers of militant attack. The old man broke the ice. He said, “You see these militants are also humans. They behave like TIGERS because we behave like cowards. Give a gun to 10 year old and he will shoot down the strongest man. It is no bravery.” “But they are well trained and they are fearless”, I said. “No, sir, they are as meek as a child once they have been disarmed” said the old man. “How can you say this sir?” I asked. He replied, “I am a retired Colonel ****.I have the experience of handling militancy in Assam and the North East; Punjab and J&K. While I do not advocate ‘TIT FOR TAT’ strategy, I feel if handled properly, even the hardest militant can be reformed. THEY KILL BECAUSE THEY THEMSELVES ARE SCARED OF DEATH. Assure them of SAFETY, they turn a domestic cat. OK, I will narrate an incident from my days in Assam in 90-91.” He started the narration of his episode thus:

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“Sir, when would you do it?” The question was straight and simple.

“Do what?” I asked.

“Sir, my face must be masked, when you do it.” He was cool.

“What are you talking?” I retorted.

“Sir, ENCOUNTER?” He responded with a deadpan expression.

“What? Encounter? Whose Encounter?” I was stunned.

“Sir, mine”, he said without any appeal for mercy.

I was really shocked. How did he think that we were a bunch of inhuman brutes on the lose? I was angry and agonized, but in a controlled display of anger I said, “Friend, Such things are outside my vocabulary. I and my men are also human beings. We believe in the philosophy that ONE HAS NO RIGHT TO TAKE LIFE IF ONE CAN NOT GIVE LIFE. We are soldiers and NOT MURDERERS ON THE PROWL.”

There was instant burst of contagious laughter by him. He gave us the uncanny feeling that he had not believed an iota of what I had said. I immediately yelled, “Stop laughing.”

He stopped, looked at me and teased, “Why? Don’t you want some awards? You will have your name in the print. People will talk about the great deeds of the bravery of your men. When would it be, sir?”

“Oh, shut up!” I was totally exasperated of his taunts. I beckoned to my men to take him away.

His face became grim. He probably thought that I had given my EXECUTIVE orders.

“Sir, mask my face, sir mask me, and I do not want to see ‘death’ staring at me” He cried and shouted at me.

In the mean while, I switched on the TV. It was 9 Pm. DOORDARSHAN was screaming with the HOT news of the day. The news anchor was reading the headlines, “-------- In a night long daring operation last night, security forces nabbed the most dreaded ULFA Militant, KOLIA alias SHYAMAL BAIRAGI of JORHAT & GOLAGHAT district of Assam. He was a ruthless Killer whose name sent ripples through the spines of traders and Tea garden Employees------blah—blah”. It was 22nd NOVEMBER 1991. Yes, the man crying to be masked before his self-perceived encounter was KOLIA. His actual name was NABAJYOTI BARKAKOTI— the only son of a School Headmaster of a village near TEOK town of Jorhat District of Assam. No doubts, he was a wayward son and he did not complete his education and fell into bad company. By the time, ULFA came into his own in the late eighties he was a known criminal. He became friendly to another dreaded ULFA name of those days—Mr RANJU SARMA alias NIKUNJ DUTTA—who had been trained in KACHIN hill tracts of MYNAMAR and had been nominated as ULFA DISTRICT COMMANDER of JORHAT in JUNE 1991. He was a tailor by profession and poverty pushed him into militancy. The duo became terror and the EXTORTION MACHINE of ULFA in the run-up to ‘Operation RHINO’. KOLIA was not only the right-hand man of RANJU SARMA but also a dreaded shooter who will shoot anyone, if his orders were not complied with. Even ULFA cadres were scared of him, in those days. He was known to have shot 8-9 persons in cold blood. There were many MARWARIS picked up by him for extortion who did not return home ever. He was the man who was pleading before me on 22nd November 1991 to be masked before he thought he would be executed. I have no hesitation in admitting that a large number of civil and police officials of JORHAT in those days, also, did not think otherwise, too. He was known for giving death threat to SP and DC of JORHAT. He was certain he would be executed. But he was not because we were not ‘awards crazy’ but sincere in our efforts to rain peace on JORHAT—which we did. Of course we did not get any gallantry awards in terms of PUBLICITY HEROICS. But VIJAY MOHANAN & DIPANKAR ROY of EASTERN CLARION, in those days, would vouch for our achievement of turning JORHAT from a ‘District of DEATH’ into an AREA OF PEACE & HARMONY.

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It was 24th November 1992 . My outfit, after having had completed its tenure of field duty, had its orders to move out from

Assam

to KOTA in RAJSTHAN. The civil administration of JORHAT organized a special function for my outfit on this day. All civil and police officials along with prominent civilians were present. I was surprised to see some 124 ex hard core militants too present there. Some of them had been nabbed by my officers and men and some others had surrendered to us. Most of them had become friendly to us because we had treated the fairly, while in captivity, and had worked on them mentally to convince them to leave the path of violence. Most of them were grateful to us.

It was a surprise to see civil administration and ex-militants rubbing shoulders with each others. The FEAR had gone and peace was visible. I got the biggest surprise when KOLIA and SP sang a song together. A year back no body would have thought of rubbing shoulders with a ruthless killer. But definitely he was a changed man. When I asked him jokingly as to what did he feel about his contemplated ENCOUNTER, he told me, “My deeds had forced me to think that way? You changed my life by your pep talks and I owe this to you that JORHAT HAS BEEN SWEPT CLEAN OF ULFA WITHOUT A BULLET HAVING BEEN FIRED. WHAT WAS BEST WAS THE WAY YOUR BOYS WENT ABOUT DOING THEIR JOB. THERE WERE NO TYPICAL OPERATIONS, YOU JUST PICKED US UP ONE BY ONE, NEATLY AND CLEANLY AND CHANGED US THROUGH PERSUASION. JORHAT WILL REMEMBER YOU ALWAYS. I am indebted to you, personally. Thanks, sir”. THIS WAS MY BIGGEST AWARD. To this day I think even the hardest criminal can be reformed only if he is tackled with love and dignity.

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The COLONEL had finished narrating his story of tackling militancy with love. I thought he was too obsessed with his methods. He did not know that TEMPLATES and PRECEDENCES, if applied and followed blindly, they lead to FAILURE, for, no two situations can ever be the same. While I was thinking of this, the train had halted, suddenly. It seems some body had pulled the chain. It was a pitch dark night. There was a commotion in the next compartment. As I and the Colonel went towards that side, we saw some men with pistol looting passengers. Colonel shouted at them, “Stop it.” One of the gangsters turned towards us and fired a single shot. It was at point blank range and I saw the colonel collapsing. I jumped out of the train. The noise spread to many other compartments and after some 40 minute or so, the noise died down. I slowly came towards my compartment. There were women crying. Men-folks were sitting stunned and shocked as always we all behave—a bunch of NINCOMPOOPS GOONKS. I looked for the COLONEL and I saw a profusely bleeding body lying sprawling on the floor. It was breathing very slowly. Two bullets had been fired at him. Both pierced his abdomen. It was none other but the Colonel. I attended to the wounds but I prayed for the train to start. The train resumed its journey after about 15 minutes. As soon as it reached SAMBHA, I asked the guard to get the medical ambulance. Colonel was still breathing when I put him on the ambulance. His parting words to me were,” Sorry I couldn’t reproduce the magic of my youth. I tried but I failed.” I could only muster courage to say, “Colonel, you had dared bare handed. But at least you did. If only we all could, may be the ruffians won’t have dared.”

rajee kushwaha posted 4 yrs ago

dear vijaya ghosh,
thank you for reding it. but you have surprised me---i don't know how did you reach there? it was published last year. and i had forgotten it almost. regards. rajee.

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Bijaya Ghosh posted 4 yrs ago

beautiful and inspiring story.

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rajee kushwaha posted 5 yrs ago

dear readers,

i wish to thank all of you for real nice and encouraging words. it may not be possible to thank all of u individually but i assure you i value your comments. of course i would like to inform sh mv bala ji that freelancing is fine but freelancing with words is not considered a civilised way of responding. it is not a joke the kolia story is based on a real incident. you know sitting in ac offices in new delhi,one can rubbish and trash anything because you are not dealing with life n death. your remarks were unwarranted . you said;

"ha! 'f' the colonel and send him to kashmir----- terrorism is not in a vaccum----." your solution , " ----tackle the cause of frustration and terroism goes-----." i can only laugh.what a solution?

i request dear man mohan singh to send sri, sri , sri mv balaji to kashmir. why waste time on muftis n gulam nabi or why even engage in a dialogue with pakistan ? here is a man with tailor made solution. thank you sri mv balaji, while we were just talking--your magic name worked and kashmir problem is gone. many thanks. huh?

where were you when punjab was burning? how many times you have been to kashmir & north east? which hotels did you stay? or did you go at al? my friend do not make 'militancy & terrorism' a favourite dish for the dinner. i know most of you journalists are apt in interviewing some of these terrorists---but not to resolve the problem but to promote yourself. earn name and fame. was it shorie who went to mp in 70's & purchased kamla--what a sensation it was? where is kamla, today ? what happened? how about those tv exposures of sex scandals in bolly wood? what happened where did your story teller disappear? there are many more, i can keep on narrating and you will keep on counting till birds come home. first put your own house in order before you dismiss others with a disdain, sh mv bala ji.

sir, i seek your forgiveness for using harsh words but i suppose sh mv bala ji provoked me to say this. regards rajee.

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rajee kushwaha posted 5 yrs ago

dear readers,

"ha! 'f' the colonel and send him to kashmir----- terrorism is not in a vaccum----." your solution , " ----tackle the cause of frustration and terroism goes-----." i can only laugh.what a solution?

where were you when punjab was burning? how many times you have been to kashmir & north east? which hotels did you stay? or did you go at al? my friend do not make 'militancy & terrorism' a favourite dish for the dinner. i know most of you journalists are apt in interviewing some of these terrorists---but not to resolve the problem but to promote yourself. earn name and fame. was it shorie who went to mp in 70's & purchased kamla--what a sensation it was? where is kamla, today ? what happened? how about those tv exposures of sex scandals in bolly wood? what happened where did your story teller disappear? there are many more, i can keep on narrating and you will keep on counting till birds come home. first put your own house on order before you dismiss others with a disdain, sh mv bala ji.

sir, i seek your forgiveness for using harsh words but i suppose sh mv bala ji provoked me to say this. regards rajee.

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rronnyy posted 5 yrs ago

dear rajee ji

you style of narration is beautiful, i loved the story too.

regards

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E_N_I_G_M_A posted 5 yrs ago

dear rk:

nice story, well-written...... i've enjoyed reading it.

could the moral/s of your story be:

1. "altruism/patriotism is not the final answer?"

2. "violence begets violence?"

your pick!

regards.

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prema Raja posted 5 yrs ago

great story..well nararted.
shows the outlook of terrorists and that of a brave general.

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M.V. Balaji posted 5 yrs ago

ha! f the colonel deserves to be posted to kashmir. if his method works there the territory would be a haven of peace!seriously speaking terrorism does not function in a vacuum. it thrives on the soil of discontent. once the basic issues that give rise to terrorism are addressed sincerely, it will become a blunt knife.

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blogpulse posted 5 yrs ago

well narrated.

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candymandotcom posted 5 yrs ago

what terror....ist ?

sorryy ...didn't read ur post

that word ....scares the hell outta me !!

swarajya posted 5 yrs ago

i was in assam for ten years.ulfa was creating havoc.my close friend became a target when three youths entered his house and killed him at point range.after the act they coolly rode their motor cycle and fled off.even with bad roads the police could not trace out the criminals.while travelling in a luxury bus from gauhati to our destination, petrol bombs hurled at us busted inside our bus .luckily we survived.that was the first day in the history of bodo bandh. naga rebels used to over power our defence forces and snatch away their arms after crippling them.anyway let us admit that our armed forces are doing their best to maintain order.

a good account of gallant men in our armed forces.

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