Guwahati, April 30: Hotly contesting claims by the army that a section of its activists had violated the ceasefire with the Centre and instigated the recent Dimasa-Hmar clashes, the Dima Halam Daoga (DHD) today demanded the release of the 15 rebels who were arrested yesterday in Cachar district.
A senior official told The Telegraph here that the DHD leadership took up the twin issues directly with the state government. He said the outfit clarified that its activists had not set up any camp other than the designated ones and that the 15 members arrested yesterday were actually in transit.
The army announced the arrests after raids on DHD hideouts at Doliya, Daija and Thaba Basti on Cachar’s eastern flank, bordering North Cachar Hills district.
The official said the DHD denied any involvement in the recent Hmar-Dimasa riots in Cachar and North Cachar Hills, as claimed by the army. Nearly 40 people of both communities were killed and thousands displaced during the clashes.
The army has yet to hand over the arrested militants and the seized weapons to the police. The cache of weapons and ammunition include a carbine, nine AK-47 rifles with 24 loaded magazines, a 7.62 mm right-bolt gun, two 7.62 SLRs with four loaded magazines, eight Chinese-made grenades and some rocket-propelled grenades. Two wireless radio sets and a sheaf of incriminating documents were seized, too.
The ceasefire between the DHD, which professes to be fighting for a separate state of “Dimaraji” for the Dimasa tribe, and the Centre took effect on January 1. The army’s claim of violation of the ground rules of the truce by the outfit could, however, affect the prospect of a dialogue.
Inspector general of police (special branch) Khogen Sharma said the matter would be “amicably resolved”. Another senior official hinted that an emergency meeting of the ceasefire monitoring cell would be convened, if required, to resolve the issue.
The army, however, maintains that armed DHD militants have been straying outside their designated camps, which is tantamount to violating the ground rules of the ceasefire between the Centre and state government. A senior army officer in Haflong, headquarters of North Cachar Hills district, had described yesterday’s operation as “one of the major successes” of security forces.
He said the army team engaged in the operation exercised “utmost restraint” to ensure that the residents of villages along Cachar district’s border with North Cachar Hills were not affected.
The operation was launched after a small team of the 17 Punjab Regiment, which is under the army’s Red Shield division, spotted some militants in eastern Cachar on Sunday.
The Dimasa Students’ Union was livid over the arrests. Its president Sanmoni Kemprai today said the army had violated the ceasefire in trying to show the DHD in poor light. “The army itself is not above board. It should adhere to the ground rules of the ceasefire in the same way that the DHD is expected to.”
The state government, too, appeared to be unhappy over the army operation. “The government has allowed DHD cadre to move about with arms while in transit from one designated camp to another. Arresting members of a outfit that has ceased hostilities is not a great achievement,” a source in Dispur said.
The Cachar unit of the Dimasa Students’ Union submitted a memorandum to the district deputy commissioner, demanding a permanent paramilitary base at Chekercham. It said the base could be later upgraded to divisional headquarters.