Silchar, June 13: After weeks of acrimony and bloodbath, the warring Dimasa and Hmar tribes tonight signed an accord to revive their friendship and help the administration restore peace in North Cachar Hills district of Assam.
Health minister Bhumidhar Barman, who is leading a Cabinet fact-finding team to the strife-torn district, brokered the accord between the Hmar Inpi and the Dimasa Zadike. Sources said president of the Hmar Inpi, Nubak Thanga Hmar, and his counterpart in the Dimasa organisation, Gunin Langthasa, signed the agreement at the Haflong Circuit House.
Before the accord, the Cabinet team recommended an immediate operation to flush out militants of the Hmar People?s Conference (Democratic) from the district.
The seven-member team reached Haflong yesterday and wasted no time in gathering information from various sources on the continuing conflict between the Dimasa and the Hmar communities. The common perception was that the situation took a turn for the worse after a group of Hmar militants sneaked into North Cachar Hills from Manipur and Mizoram.
The Cabinet team held a marathon meeting with senior officials of the civil administration, the police, security forces and the army last night to find ways to restore normality. Additional chief secretary J.P. Rajkhowa, relief and rehabilitation secretary Hasan Ali, director general of police H.K. Deka, inspector general of police (operations) S.B. Kakati and deputy inspector general (south Assam) N.M. Dutta were also present.
On the Cabinet team?s recommendation, inspector general of police (law and order) G. Bhuyan was given the responsibility of overseeing the proposed offensive against the militants behind the ethnic conflict.
The North Cachar Autonomous District Council submitted a memorandum to the Cabinet team, urging it to recommend additional police outposts on the district?s borders with Nagaland and Manipur and an early start to the proposed dialogue with DHD.
Barman later met leaders of the Dimasa and Hmar tribes at the Haflong Circuit House and urged them to exercise restraint. He said the administration could not end the conflict without their help.
However, DHD vice-chairman Dilip Nunisa warned of raids by the ?military council? of his outfit on HPC (D) hideouts in Mizoram and Manipur. He said over phone from Haflong that the DHD had restrained itself for long, but would not tolerate any more attacks.
A police team, led by additional superintendent S.P. Saikia, yesterday raided Maiserpunji, a Hmar village in Cachar district, and recovered 10 pipeguns and two kg of gunpowder from a house.
The raid followed an attack on Dihankru, a Dimasa village in North Cachar Hills, by suspected Hmar militants. At least 40 houses were torched in the incident. The Assam government has sanctioned Rs 67 lakh for the rehabilitation of displaced Dimasa and Hmar residents.