Nagaon, Dec. 2: The Karbi Anglong and N.C. Hills People?s Resistance (KNPR), the armed wing of the anti-talks faction of the United People?s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), today threatened to purge the district of all Kukis. Declaring open war against the Kuki outfit, the UPDS said its operation would end only after the last Kuki village was uprooted from the twin districts of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hiils. The UPDS claimed that Kukis had migrated to the two districts from neighbouring Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.
The outfit?s warning came even as suspected UPDS militants torched five houses in two different areas near Diphu town in the past 24 hours. Four houses belonging to villagers of the Thadou community near the Harbon Christan English School, four km from Diphu town, and a Kuki house near the Diphu Navodaya Vidyalaya were torched last night. There was no occupant in the houses that were gutted today, as the families there had already fled and taken shelter in relief camps.
The state government today sought a special package from the Centre to remove the communication bottleneck and beef up the police force.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi told newsmen in Guwahati that the state government would make a special presentation on the problem faced by security forces in carrying out counter-insurgency operations smoothly owing to the poor communication network.
He also said the state government was planning to increase the number of police stations in the two hill districts to help the force deal effectively with the law and order problems.
The state government has also decided to bring the two hill districts under a deputy inspector-general of police (range). While the North Cachar Hills district currently comes under the DIG (southern range), Karbi Anglong falls under the DIG (central western range).
Gogoi said because of the difficult hilly terrain, security forces cannot reach the trouble spots in time. Besides, the militants also manage to flee after hitting the targets. ?As the terrain is difficult, merely rushing additional companies of paramilitary forces would not improve the situation. We have to simultaneously improve the communication network,? he added.
He said the state government has issued strict instructions to police in Karbi Anglong to flush out Kuki rebels who have infiltrated to the hill districts from Manipur.
Two new companies of the army reached Diphu today, taking the army?s strength in the district to five companies. One company of the Border Security Force, along with the CRPF, have been carrying out counter-insurgency operations in the district.
Army and CRPF patrolling has been increased in villages with mixed populations.