India News Online » News Analysis » Indian Politics » 

North East: Assam militancy : Govt. orders probe into links between politi¬cians and Black Widow

	May 26, 2008

The Assam government has decided to institute a commission of inquiry to probe links between some senior members of the North Cachar Hills Autonomous District Council and the Jewel Gorlosa faction, Black Widow, of the Dima Halam Daogah, which had recently killed a score of people in a string of attacks.



The state government has directed police to register cases against those facing specific charges.



Asked what steps were being taken to contain the violence in the volatile district, government spokesman Himanta Biswa Sarma said at least three ruling members of the council belonging to the ASDC - chief executive member Debulal Hojai, executive member Mohit Hojai and former MP Prakanta Warisa - allegedly have ties with militants.



They are also responsible for diverting funds meant for the council through two contractors, according to evidence furnished by the police and Raj Bhavan. “Accordingly, the government has decided to act against those having specific charges and also constitute a commission of inquiry to get to the bottom of the truth. We are also ready for a CBI probe or willing to set up a judicial commission if the Opposition demands,” Sarma said.



The alleged charges against Warisa were that of striking a deal with senior NSCN (I-M) functionary V.S. Atem in 2006 to win the Assembly elections while Debulal Hojai and Mohit Hojai are said to have helped and harboured DHD (J) rebels who have killed 75 people since January.



While Debulal is related to DHD (J) commander-in-chief Niranjan Hojai, Mohit is related to Maurang Hojai, an area com¬mander. Debulal is said to have given a government job to Niran¬jan during his first term.



“A judicial statement signed by arrested DHD member - Action Dimasa - said they used to collect and store arms and ammunition at Debulal Hojai’s place. Mobile records of two arrested DHD (J) cadres showed that they were in constant touch with these lead¬ers. Thirdly, according to information provided by Raj Bhavan, around Rs 10 crore meant for the council against various bills was diverted to the coffers of the DHD (J) through two contrac¬tors - R.S. Gandhi and another called Ali,” Sarma said.



As to why the government took so long to wake up to the politician-militant nexus though armed with proof, the Minister said: “We have started now because we got the information now. Moreover, the police cannot simply go and arrest these people or the Opposition will say the Congress was trying to dislodge the council. Moreover, Dispur has certain limitations under the Sixth Schedule. But we have initiated action,” Sarma said.



The Congress had lost the autonomous council elections to the ASDC-BJP combine in December. The party, in fact, gave up the fight after militants started targeting its leaders in the dis¬trict.



Warisa, when contacted in Haflong, said the charges were nothing new. “The accusations have been levelled to malign my image. The charges of my links with the NSCN (I-M) first surfaced before the Assembly elections. I had cleared them myself. Even the NSCN (I-M)) had denied it. Moreover, I lost the elections to the senior most Congress leader, G.C. Langthasa.





Garlosa’s ceasefire : Govt. puts conditions to respond



In another development, the state government has put condi¬tions for responding to the unilateral ceasefire declared by the Black Widow faction headed by Garlosa on May 16, immediately after it had killed 22 persons, including two Railway staffers in the previous week.



An official spokesman and Cabinet Minister, Rockybul Hu¬sain, who made a visit to the violence-affected hill district to take stock of the situation, told the media that the Black Widow outfit would have to behave and stop killing innocent people to create a conducive atmosphere for the government to reciprocate the olive branch extended by it.



He said if the outfit could convince the government about its sincerity by mending its way, the state government would take up its peace overtures with the Centre, but it would take time as certain laid down procedures had to be followed.



Chief minister Tarun Gogoi stated that the government could¬n’t declare ceasefire in no time just because an insurgent group had written a letter to it expressing a desire to make peace with the government.



“It takes time. The Bodo militant group, the National Demo¬cratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) had declared unilateral truce in June, 2004, but the government responded to it after about a year completing certain formalities,” Gogoi said.



The DHD (Jewel) had earlier declared unilateral truce on March 25 last, giving the government three months time to re¬spond. However, the outfit claimed that it was forced to break truce after the Army had killed 12 of its cadres on March 10.



Meanwhile, the ruling coalition of the BJP and the Auto¬nomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) in the North Cachar Hill district Council has alleged that the police, paramilitary forces and the Army had totally failed in containing the DHD (Jewel) insurgents and the only option left with the government was to initiate process of dialogue with the outfit to restore peace in the hill district.





Jewel lifts ban, talks peace



In a related development, Jewel Gorlosa on May 19 lifted its ban on work on the East-West corridor and gauge conversion projects in the North Cachar Hills district to “give peace a chance.”



Talking to mediapersons over phone from an undisclosed location, the outfit’s publicity secretary Paiprang Dimasa said his organisation wanted peace to be restored in the district. “We want to give peace a chance,” he said.



Paiprang also confirmed that the outfit had submitted an eight-point charter of demands to the government after the first ceasefire. “They (the state government) talk, but there is no action,” he said. “The response from their side has left much to be desired.” The DHD (J) leader also came out strongly against the army, which had reportedly said that it would finish off the group.





Meanwhile, not completely relying on the truce offered by the outfit, the government has decided to increase the security presence in the troubled district. The troops of 57 Mountain Brigade posted at Masimpur have been moved to the killing fields of the district.



Army sources, however, made it clear that the troops would not be given overall responsibility of maintaining law and order and running of trains in the disturbed district.



The Railway Ministry had been in favour of entrusting the army with the responsibility of overseeing the movement of trains and keeping the guerrilla incursions under their vigil along the 214-km metre-gauge hill section from Silchar to Lumding junction, portions of which meander through North Cachar Hills district.



But the army, according to sources, is resisting this idea as its role in counter-insurgency operations in North Cachar will be further stretched in the event of this new duty. The army is in favour of continuing only its usual counter-guerrilla opera¬tions on the basis of fixed intelligence inputs and regular patrolling.



The army has agreed to the proposal by the state government for better co-ordination between its troops and those from the paramilitary and police forces.



The Railway Ministry has also turned down the state gover¬nment’s request to provide locomotive drivers with bullet-proof jackets.





17 militants surrender at Dinjan



Seventeen militants belonging to banned outfits, namely United Liberation Front of Asom (12), KNLF (2), NDFB (1), NSCN (I-M) (2) and mostly from Golaghat district laid down their arms on May 22 before the Army and Civil authorities at a ceremony held at Dinjan Army camp. They handed over 13 pistols, two Bur¬mese guns, one M-21 rifle and a large number of ammunition of pistols, rifles and AK series besides some magazines, stated an army press release.