Family members of Bishnupada Das. Picture by Biplab Basak

Banglar Jhar, (Jalpaiguri) March 14: A wall peppered with bullet-holes, a pair of bloodstained slippers and scattered glass from broken soft-drink bottles in front of a shutter-drawn shop are the only evidences of the terror unleashed by KLO militants last evening.

No one knows when the shop will reopen. Nitaipada Das, who was injured in yesterday’s attack, is battling death in Sadar Hospital. The militants’ bullets claimed his, 21-year-old son, Bishnupada, who had gone to the shop to assist his father.

Nitaipada’s wife, Kunti, has not been able to come to terms with the loss. Too shocked even to shed tears, she has only one question to ask. “What did my son do to deserve this? Ask the killers why they targeted my son.”

She fears for her husband, who has not been told about their son’s death. “He had so many plans for Bishnu. How can I ever bring myself to tell him that he was killed by the militants?” she asks.

Bishnu, as he was popularly known, was the typical neighbourhood good samaritan.

“He was always there for anyone who needed him,” said Manatosh, his cousin.

Deepak Sarkar was another innocent casualty claimed by the militant’s indiscriminate firing. His mother had fainted when the police arrived at their door. His sister, continued to stare blankly at the wall even when the police left. Nothing their neighbours did brought Deepak’s mother to consciousness, his sister out of her trance.

“We thought we had seen the last of these rebels when the army brought them to their knees. But it looks as if they as hitting out with a vengeance. I can only feel for the families that lost their members to the rebels’ guns,” said Manoranjan Sarkar, a resident of the tiny hamlet in Domohoni-2 gram panchayat of Mainaguri panchayat samity.

The 600-odd residents of the village no longer feel safe. “Who will protect us if the rebels attack again. We know they are not targeting anyone in particular. All they wish to show is that the army offensive was not enough to wipe them out,” another villager said. “We had the army then, but what now.”

Manik Sanyal, the Jalpaiguri district secretary of CPM who visited the site last night branded the attack a “conspiracy” by the KLO to “strike terror in the hearts of common man”.

“This attack has nothing to do with politics. The militants are trying to gain lost ground and prove that they are as strong now as they were before the army operation. We will combat militancy in a democratic way,” Sanyal said. “The CPM will take responsibility for the treatment of the four injured people.”

The party today organised rallies to condemn the attack and declared it a “protest day”.