Title - Exodus: Northeast Indians begin returning

Several Indians from the northeast who had fled Bangalore and other parts of south India fearing repercussions of the Assam violence began arriving in special trains from Guwahati on Tuesday, officials said.Three trains had left for Bangalore from Guwahati on Monday, taking back some of the people who had fled the Karnataka capital, an official spokesperson of the Northeast Frontier Railway said.The move reflected the beginning of return of normalcy after several confidence-building measures and scaled up security, officials said.Over 17,000 police personnel, bolstered by Rapid Action Force and Karnataka State Reserve Police, have been deployed to instill a greater sense of security among the people, they added.More than 30,000 people hailing from the northeast fled from Bangalore alone, besides other cities in south and western India such as Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad last week after reports and rumours of imminent attacks on them stemming from the ethnic violence in Assam.The number of people fleeing Karnataka appeared to subside on Saturday after the police made several arrests and chief minister Jagadish Shettar promised order, however the exodus from Pune and Hyderabad continued, media reports said.Government officials said it would take two to three days before all of those who had fled from their cities of work and study would return.

The exodus had sparked after at least 78 people were killed in the Assam violence between Bodos and Muslim settlers since July and countless were rendered homeless and sheltered in relief camps.

Indian authorities have alleged that Pakistani websites used images of people killed in cyclones and earthquakes and passed them off as Muslims killed in violence earlier this year to spread fear of revenge attacks.