Guwahati, Nov. 7: Dispur is willing to accord a formal reception to the people of Chinese-origin from the state — separated from their families by the Chinese aggression of 1962 — if they paid a visit.

“Chief minister Tarun Gogoi said he can realise the pain and agony these people underwent. Although no official announcement has been made so far, he is willing to give a warm welcome to the displaced lot if they decide to visit their ancestral place and their relatives there,” said the author of the recently released novel, Makam, Rita Chowdhury, here today.

She said she had called on the chief minister on Friday and he had conveyed his wish to her.

In Makam, the Sahitya Akademi award winner recounted the story of the deported Chinese-origin population of Makum.

“I wanted the people to know about the ordeal of these people. It took me around four years to research the novel and write it,” said Chowdhury. “I would like to appeal to all groups — political, apolitical, NGOs and others — to come forward and co-operate with the government to do something for these people.”

To provide an opportunity of a get-together for the displaced Chinese-origin people, a daylong programme is being organised at Makum College on November 10.

This cultural integration programme is being organised by a socio-cultural organisation, Surjudaya, in Makum in collaboration with others such as Asam Sahitya Sabha, AASU and AJYCP. “We are expecting more than 50 people from the state to attend the event. Those who have settled abroad, too, have got in touch with us,” said the secretary of Surjyudaya, Akhil Ch. Baruah.

“We plan to take them on a tour around Makum during which they will be taken to the school they attended way back in 1962 and also the famous gohali (cowshed) where they were first kept captive before being sent to Deoli internment camp in Rajasthan,” said Baruah.

Wing Hing Tham is waiting eagerly for D-day. “I hope I will get to meet some of my friends from whom I was separated after the Chinese aggression,” said Tham.

He was in Dikom (Dibrugarh district) during the aggression and is now settled in Tezpur with his wife. Father of three sons, 63-year-old Tham gets nostalgic whenever he talks about the past years.

Tham said he escaped deportation because he was the only one of Chinese origin at Dikom and the police did not know of his presence.

Later, though, this became known, but local residents vouched for him saying he was “one of them” when the police came looking for him.

“We had to encounter many hardships after the 1962 Sino-Indian aggression. I had to struggle a lot as people were reluctant to offer me work when they got to know that I was half Chinese,” said Tham. “We have formed a society for the Chinese–origin people in Tezpur — Assamese Chinese Society — and through this society we expect to reconnect with some of our lost friends.”

“Many are settled in Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore and other places. A few are still in Assam and its adjoining states. This get together will be good opportunity to rekindle old ties,” said Chowdhury.