Politics / Assam

GUWAHATI, April 20 – The situation in strife torn North Cachar Hills district had improved considerably with no untoward incident reported during the last 48 hours, official sources said here today, reports PTI. Curfew has been relaxed in the district for 12 hours from 0600 hrs but night curfew continues to be imposed to prevent any untoward incident. The district authorities, headed by Deputy Commissioner Syed Iftikhar Hussain, held several meetings with various committees, including the Dimasas and Hmars to defuse the tension. Rail and road transport has resumed functioning normally though...

SILIGURI, April 19 — The Bhutan government is taking steps to curb activities of Indian militant organisations in the country, Bhutanese ambassador to India Lynpo Dago Tshering said here today. Tshering said that there were 20 camps of anti-India militants running in Bhutan, including nine operated by the ULFA. Of the nine, four were already destroyed by the Bhutan government, he said adding a number of new check posts were also set up at a great expenditure. Securitymen have blocked the entry points inside Dooars jungles usually used by militants to enter the Himalayan country, he said...

GUWAHATI, April 19 — The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has identified various irregularities in the Flood Control Department and recommended that the ongoing scheme should be completed on priority basis before taking up new schemes. The CAG, in its report pointed out that out of 25 schemes recommended by the Planning Commission between 1998-99 to 2001-02, to be funded under the non-lapsable central pool of resources, only four could be completed due to the delay in release of fund to the executing department. The report revealed in 1998, the committee for funding of schemes...

KOKRAJHAR, April 18— About 3250 families, residing in relief camps since the outbreak of ethnic riots in Kokrajhar, have been recently sent back home under a rehabilitation package by the Kokrajhar district administration. Their rehabilitation has been made possible after the release of Rs 3 crore in February. So far, about 5,100 families have been rehabilitated. According to Kokrajhar deputy commissioner Dr Ashish K Bhutani, the recently rehabilitated families have been drawn from the Sapkata, Dorogaon, Patgaon, and Sonapur relief camps. The rehabilitation process was completed in the first...

New Delhi, April 17: The Union home ministry has traced the genesis of the bloody Dimasa-Hmar ethnic feud in Assam to a resolution adopted by the North Cachar Hills District Council to rename the district as “Dima Halali”.

Sources in the ministry said the resolution was the first of several “deliberate attempts” to create a chasm between the Dimasas and other communities of North Cachar Hills district and adjoining Cachar.

There was an “uneasy calm” in North Cachar Hills immediately after the resolution was adopted in January. The restive atmosphere boiled over in the next couple of months...

April 17: As Cachar and North Cachar continue to burn, another ethnic conflict is brewing in neighbouring Karbi Anglong over granting of Scheduled Tribe (hill) status to the Bodos living in the hill district.

Assam home commissioner B.K. Gohain told The Telegraph that security in Karbi Anglong has been beefed up in view of the indefinite road and rail blockade called by the militant outfit, the Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills People’s Resistance — a frontal organisation of the anti-talks faction of the United People’s Democratic Solidarity.

The blockade is scheduled to begin on April 25...

Guwahati, April 16: The banned National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) today alleged that the recent abduction of three activists of the Dima Halam Daoga (DHD) and the subsequent killing of 28 Dimasas were the handiwork of “Indian intelligence agencies”.

The NDFB, however, refrained from naming any outfit and urged the “kidnappers” to release the DHD militants without any condition. The DHD has blamed the militant Hmar People’s Council (Democratic) for the two incidents. “The NDFB is seriously concerned over the incident and urges the kidnappers to free the DHD members immediately...

GUWAHATI, April 16 – No fresh incident of violence has been reported from any part of the ethnic riot hit North Cachar Hills and Cachar districts in the last 72 hours, said the Inspector Geneal of Police (Special Branch) Sri Khagen Sharma. Talking to this correspondent here this evening, Sri Sharma said that additional forces – two companies to Cachar district and four companies to NC Hills were rushed to bring normalcy. The paramilitary forces have also been redeployed to deal with the situation.

Sri Sharma said that the situation in the riot-hit districts is fast returning to normal and...

Guwahati, April 14: The US-based Kuki International Forum has charged the Assam government with being “biased” in its handling of the ongoing Hmar-Dimasa conflict in Cachar and North Cachar Hills districts.

In an open letter to chief minister Tarun Gogoi, the forum claimed the state administration had been partial towards the Dimasas since the clashes in south Assam began. “The biased nature of the state government has been in evidence since the beginning of the conflict,” it said.

The Kuki community, which inhabits several areas of the two districts, had been perceived to be neutral on the...

April 13: Strife-torn Cachar continued to be rocked by violence while tension simmered in neighbouring North Cachar Hills district though there were no fresh incidents of violence.

In the continuing ethnic clashes in Cachar, four more houses were set ablaze in Nutan Punji area as four police outposts were put up in Hmar and Dimasa-dominated areas and police patrolling intensified.

Police sources said unidentified men torched four houses belonging to Hmar and Nepali communities. The militants also opened fire before escaping to the nearby jungles. The police also recovered a body from the...