DIMAPUR, Dec 31 — The white flag of peace may yet again flutter in the insurgency-ridden North-East as the peace initiatives between the Dimasa extremist organisation Dima Halong Daogah (DHD) and the Government of India show encouraging signs. Earlier, in a statement issued in the later part of August this year, the DHD had stated that although it had positively responded to Prime Minister’s Independence Day call and expressed willingness to discuss the Dimasa issue with the Centre, no further reciprocal gesture had been extended by the Union Government.
Citing an incident of harassment of Dimasa people by police and security forces, DHD said the forces launched a joint operation at Demiji Pathar village a couple of days after the PM’s call for peace talks, which meant the Centre is adopting double standards. The period following that incident has been an alarming rise in the activities of DHD. The out-fit has been waging an armed struggle demanding a separate State – ‘Dimaraji’ – comprising Dimasa-dominated areas of Karbi Anglong, NC Hills districts of Assam and parts of Dimapur district in Nagaland. Primarily confined to NC Hills areas and part of Borail range, the outfit of late has become active in Karbi Anglong district, particularly in Dhansiri and Howraghat areas.
The DHD again very recently came into limelight when it demanded the exclusion of Dimapur from Nagaland, claiming that the commercial town was merged with the hill state for only 25 years from the time of its creation in 1963.