Christians care for the displaced in violence-affected India

Muslim and Boro conflict impacts thousands

By Rob Horsley  |  Thursday, August 30, 2012

Photo by gozef via Flickr.

A recent outbreak of violence has affected residents in the Assam province of India, a thin strip of land between Bangladesh and Bhutan. The violence has also adversely affected many Christians in the area, many of which are responding by giving aid to those directly impacted.

North Bengal Outreach Ministry (NBOM), a partner ministry of Partners International Canada, is providing desperately needed assistance to families in the Assam region. The violence is thought to have originated from clashes between Muslim migrants in the region and the native Boro people.

NBOM projects include distributing items like food, cooking oil, baby food, milk, bed sheets and blankets, as well as replacing housing materials damaged or destroyed in the violence. Materials such as tin will be used to replace roofing, a timely need in the midst of Assam's rainy season.

Many people on both sides have been attacked and killed with upwards of forty thousand people becoming displaced as both Muslim and Boro families flee the escalating violence.

Impoverished Bangladeshi Muslims often pass through Assam to work in the more prosperous Bhutan. Once their work permits have expired, they are expected to return to Bangladesh. However, many have been settling in the Assam's Boro tribal lands.

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