The exodus of panic-stricken Hindi-speaking traders from parts of Assam's Karbi Anglong district has led to an acute shortage of essentials with local Karbi tribes people now facing the after-effects of the violence.

           Schoolteacher Kiling Timung is a worried man - the weekly bazaar every Saturday at village Dolamara, about 275 km east of Guwahati, has remained closed for the last three weeks.

           "The Dolamara bazaar was the only place in the area where we do our weekly shopping with commodities ranging from rice and pulses to baby food, mustard oil, salt and other essentials," Timung said.

          There are an estimated 2,500 locals in the area who are depended on Dolamara weekly market for the essentials.

          "Now the bazaar is closed as all the traders who were Biharis have fled the area after the violence," Timung said in a voice filled with remorse.

          The eastern Karbi Anglong district has witnessed a string of brutal attacks in the run-up to Independence Day, where close to 30 Hindi-speaking people were killed by the rebels of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KLNLF).

          Like Dolamara, the weekly markets in the adjoining areas of Bandarchak and Deithor have also remained closed since the outbreak of the violence.

         "There is a severe shortage of food and other essentials in the area. Hundreds of people like us are depended on the weekly markets and small grocery shops run by Biharis and Marwaris for buying food but now not a single shop is opened," lamented Krising Bey, a community elder.

          Hundreds of Hindi-speaking traders have fled the area after the attacks. Some of them have left the State, while others were trying to buy time for normalcy to return.

         "We cannot risk our lives by returning to our workplace now. Maybe the militants would come and attack us if we open our shops now,"Hari Prasad Chauhan, a grocer in the districts Bokajan area, said. Chauhan and his family are now sheltered in a relative's home in the adjoining town of Golaghat.

        The attacks have led to the growing mistrust between the local Karbis and the Hindi-speakers.

        "There is a market in nearby Behora area from where we can do our shopping but people are scared to go there, fearing retaliation by Hindi-speaking people," said Horsing Teron, a Karbi villager.

        Authorities were trying to instill confidence among the Hindi-speaking people to return to their workplaces.

        "We have deployed security forces in strength in several vulnerable areas and there should be no trouble again," a senior police official said.

        The attacks are reminiscent of the wave of killings by the ULFA in January targeting Hindi-speakers in which about 60 people were killed.

       In 2000, ULFA militants killed at least 100 Hindi speaking people in Assam in a series of well-planned attacks after the rebel group vowed to free the State of all 'non-Assamese migrant workers'.

      "It is poor people like us who are suffering because of the violence. We don't have any animosity with the Hindi-speaking traders who have been with us for decades," said Mala Timungpi, a housewife.