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Karbi Anglong ethnic bloodshed : CBI probe likely |
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The Assam Government has agreed to a CBI investigation into the month long ethnic turmoil that has claimed over 80 lives in Karbi Anglong district.
The government gave its assurance to organisations of the Karbi and Dimasa communities, with whom a team led by the Chief Minister had a nearly two-hour-long meeting in the state capital. The government also promised to shift the relief camps in educational institutions of the district within 15 days to enable classes to resume.
Minister of state for home Rockybul Hussain said the apex organisations of the Karbi and Dimasa tribes, locked in a bloody conflict since September 26, insisted on a CBI inquiry and the government acceded to the demand.
Representatives of nine Karbi and six Dimasa groups attended the meeting. The government team included planning and development minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, commissioner and secretary to the chief minister B.K. Gohain and IGP (Special Branch) Khagen Sarma.
Gohain said the judicial inquiry instituted earlier would be withdrawn, subject to the CBI’s willingness to take over the case.
The trigger for the ethnic conflict is believed to be the killing of three Dimasa autorickshaw drivers at Manja on September 26.
The assemblage of tribal leaders, politicians and officials at Janata Bhawan was unanimous in calling for a rapprochement between the Dima Halam Daoga (DHD) and the United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), the two militant groups that allegedly fanned the flames of the ethnic conflict. The UPDS claims to represent Karbi aspirations, while the DHD is the militant face of the Dimasa tribe and holds sway over the adjoining North Cachar Hills.
The meeting appealed to leaders of the rival militant groups to sit face-to-face in the presence of Union Home Ministry officials and iron out their differences. The UPDS has been demanding the relocation of DHD’s designated camp outside Karbi Anglong.
Representatives of both communities complained about the alleged inadequacy of the relief and rehabilitation measures for tribals displaced by the ethnic clashes. The government promised to look into this grievance.
The Karbi Anglong administration, however, claimed sufficient relief had been extended to displaced Karbis and Dimasas. Deputy commissioner G.D. Tripathi also claimed that the situation in the district was fast returning to normal.
Prem Saran, commissioner of hill areas development is monitoring the relief and rehabilitation operation in Karbi Anglong. He said the police and civil administration had done a good job despite many constraints.
In Guwahati, Sumindar Karbi Amey spokesman Upen Ingti said: ‘We are not fully satisfied with the outcome. We want the DHD’s designated camp in Dhansiri to be shifted immediately, but Dispur has been delaying it by saying that it will be considered only after talking to the UPDS, DHD and Delhi.’
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