Hidden Fire

Robert Lanky *

The trouble torn North Cachar Hills district is still boiling and burning under the influence of ethnic clashes between the Zeliongrong Nagas and Dimasa. Though , one can say that : the ethnic conflict in NC Hills started even before the formation of NC hills dist in 1970. But, in today's scenario, where both communities are acting in vengeance against each other it seems that their acts of revenge is going to engulf the region.

Since last three months there have been many incidents of innocents being killed by both Zeme Nagas and Dimasas, burning of houses and forceful migration from their own homes. As per reports published in various local/national dailies ; 11 Dimasa tribals and 19 Zeme Nagas have been killed and villagers have abandoned their homes for safer places and relief camps.

As of now, more than 1700 men and 2,300 women have moved to makeshift relief camps. Meanwhile, burning of abandoned huts by both the communities have gone unabated. As per sources and news article published, burning of huts/ villages have escalated since the incident on 28 Apr as given below:-

Date	Villages	Approx No of houses burnt	Community
28 Apr 09	Yah Basti	05	Dimasa Village
01 May 09	Chotta Nenglo	02	Naga Village
08 May 09	Jorai Basti	12	Dimasa Village
09 May 09	Phaiding	02	Dimasa Village
11 May 09	Guilung Naga	70	Naga Village
21 May 09	Dibola	14	Naga Village
21 May 09	Jaluwa	24	Naga Village
21 May 09	Narim Banglo	08	Naga Village
28 May 09	Mabao	15	Naga Village
03 Jun 09	Chenam	54	Naga Village
03 Jun 09	Purana Kampal	15	Naga Village
03 Jun 09	Ningal Kachari	14	Naga Village
08 Jun 09	Dhodhuki & Village Near Mahur	43	Dimasa Village
09 Jun 09	Lailong	03	Dimasa Village
09 Jun 09	Upper Lodi	22	Dimasa Village
10 Jun 09	Jiri Basti	14	Dimasa Village

* Data collected from SATP and various News Dailies.

After three major blows to the DHD(J) cadres; split in their organisation, ,arrest of top leadership and killing of SS Foreign Secretary, the DHD(J) have called for unilateral truce and shown the white flag which the Govt of India has neither accepted nor reciprocated . However if reports are to be believed the erstwhile mentor of DHD(J) in collusion with the so called 'Naga miscreants' are on killing spree of innocent people and burning of Dimasa villages.

Reports also suggest of other militant groups carrying out atrocities on the Dimasa as a show of solidarity to their Naga brethren. The Times of India on 11th Jun 09, has directly accused and alleged the atrocities as the handiwork of NSCN(IM) group .

Intelligence sources have also indicated in their reports of about 170 armed cadres of NSCN(IM) sneaking into NC Hills through Tidik border. Credibility of the reports or otherwise ,the entire NC Hills District and South Assam may snowball into a major ethnic crisis with disastrous ramification .

The Nagaland Chief Minister, Mr Neiphiu Rio on 04 Jun has also sought the Prime Minister's intervention into the ongoing 'organised violence'. The author, after going through the various reports and dailies, is of the opinion that the 'miscreants' of the minority community are carrying out such atrocities only with the tacit support of Naga militant groups .

The 'hidden fire' which is very much among the people of both communities needs to be doused by all sections of the people and the Govt. The atrocities committed by both communities on each other must be condemned and stopped. The people of NC Hills must be made to realise that they ; the Dimasas and Zeme Nagas will only be the sufferers and not the leaders of DHD (J) or other Naga groups.

Time will run out if the so called ' miscreants' are not reigned in as it will engulf the region like an uncontrolled fire in the jungle and many innocent lives will be lost and suffer from these atrocities. The state govt and all security forces must work in tandem to hunt down these 'miscreants' of either communities so as to ensure harmonious relationship and bring peace and tranquillity.

Violence has rocked the Hill district with militant outfits Dimasa Halam Daogah (Jewel) and the erstwhile their mentor and now rival NSCN(IM) as well as Khaplang factions targeting public, trains and public installations. Recently the success achieved by Assam Police, Army and other Para Military forces in the region against this rebel group has put DHD(J) on the back foot.

Arrest of Rebel Chairman Jewel Gorolosa along with his two top aides was a great set back, killing of rebels C-in-C Frankie near Guwahati was again a major blow. In a last few days, five DHD (J) cadres have been killed and two surrender, this was the projection of low morale among the cadres.

Though, In a statement Black Widow Vice President Daniel Dimasa had said on 4th of Jun that : the outfit will continue like before but after two three days they had called for Unilateral Cease Fire for which state govt and centre had not given any response till now. Mean while, government officials and sources in security forces hinted that the govt considered the ceasefire by the outfit as a strategy to reorganize the rank and file of the outfit.

Downfall of DHD (J) started when it's one of top Operation Commander James Dimasa with NC Hill Commander Dinov Dimasa (Public Secretary) and Bihari Dimasa have seceded with approx 40 cadres of the outfit and approached the security forces by end of Apr 09 with a request for suspension of operations(SOO).

---

* Robert Lanky is freelancer based in North East India and contributes regularly to e-pao.net. He can be contacted at robertlanky [AT] gmail [DOT] com
This article was webcasted on June 24th, 2009.

---