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North East: Assam : New Delhi ‘No’ to UPDS plea on self-rule

	April 14, 2008

The Union Government has rejected the United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS)’s demand for a Karbi state, throwing up possibilities of new alliances between militant outfits in Assam’s twin hill districts of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills.



After the seventh round of tripartite talks between the UPDS and representatives of New Delhi and Dispur failed to meet its demand for Karbi self-rule, the outfit said on Friday, April 11, that it could join hands with the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) factions to prepare a common set of demands.



The UPDS is demanding statehood in the Karbi Anglong Auto¬nomous District (KAAD) while the DHD’s original demand is for a Dimaraji state, comprising parts of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills districts as well as Nagaland.



Six UPDS leaders, including vice-chairman Ke-Ap Tisso, general secretary Sai Ding-Eh and joint secretaries Tung-Eh Nongloda and W. Mukran, called on senior Home Ministry officials. The seventh round of talks was held after a span of nearly one-and-a-half years.



According to sources, the government said there was “no policy at present for the creation of a new state,” either under Article 3 or Article 244-A of the Constitution.



“We have been asked to revise our proposal. At the moment, I can say only that we do not intend to revise our demand,” a UPDS leader said.



“Joining hands with the DHD (Nunisa) is a possibility now as it will be easier for all of us,” he said.



UPDS spokesperson Elvin Teron said the government needed to see the problems in the region in a holistic manner, as several outfits were fighting for overlapping areas.



The outfit will now hold a meeting of its central executive committee before another meeting with New Delhi next month. The Centre has proposed monthly meetings with the outfit.



Senior Assam government officials had on April 10 met Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and reviewed the security situation in the state. Their focus was on the North Cachar Hills auto¬nomous district where the DHD (Jewel Gorlosa) or the Black Widow is most active. The group’s main demand embraces the North Cachar Hills district.



UPDS leaders said they could also hold talks with the Gorlo¬sa outfit for a better bargaining position with the Centre.



Over the past few weeks, the Gorlosa group has been pushed to the wall, especially after the arrest of two important leaders in Guwahati last month. While Gorlosa himself is suspected to be in Bangladesh, some other leaders of the faction are said to be in Thailand and Malaysia, sources said.



The UPDS had given up its demand for self-rule in Karbi contiguous areas of Assam and Meghalaya after talks with the erstwhile NDA regime, but it is pressing for restoration of traditional land and a halt to the influx of non-indigenous people into the KAAD.





Cycle bomb rips through Karbi market



Meanwhile, insurgent elements continue to indulge in subver¬sive activities, affecting normal life in the state.



Militants suspected to be from an anti-talks faction of a Karbi outfit on April 10 triggered a cycle bomb in a weekly market in the heart of Karbi Anglong’s Howraghat town to make their presence felt on the day peace talks between the Centre and their rival, the UPDS, were resumed.



The blast came a day after nearly 15,000 people marched through Diphu town in support of the talks with the United Peo¬ples Democratic Solidarity and demanded an end to the ethnic bloodbath.



The explosion, which left over 30 injured, one of them critically, occurred when Hill Areas Development Minister Khor¬singh Engti, Lok Sabha MP Birensingh Engti and Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council chief executive member Mangalsingh Engti were attending a mandal Congress meeting at the PWD inspection bunga¬low about a kilometre away.



Police suspect the blast was carried out by the Karbi Longri North Cachar Liberation Front, a group that was born out of the UPDS and has yet to get into any ceasefire. They said the cycle bomb technique smacked of Ulfa help as the two outfits work in tandem.



Karbi Anglong’s Additional Superintendent of Police (Head¬quarters) Nityananda Goswami said the bomb was strapped to a bicycle which was parked at the Howraghat weekly market on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Road. “We are not yet sure whether it was a time device or a remote-controlled bomb,” Goswami said.



The Karbi Longri and the UPDS have been locked in a fratri¬cidal war ever since the pro-talks group entered into a cease¬fire. The UPDS split in 2001, when its pro-talks faction signed a truce with Delhi. In March 2004, the two factions signed an internal ceasefire agreement, but it lasted only three months as the breakaway faction launched an offensive against the other.





Centre mulls new operations



The Centre has decided to step up operations against mili¬tant groups in Assam and ensure security for key development projects.



Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and Special Secretary (Inter¬nal Security) Mahendra Kumawat met Assam Chief Secretary P.C. Sarma, Director-General of Police R.N. Mathur and other top police officials to discuss the outcome of suspension of opera¬tions with various outfits of the state.



Mathur conceded that killings were far from over and said the government was looking for ways to reconcile the militant groups. The militant threat to the Lumding-Badarpur gauge conversion project and the East West corridor project were dis¬cussed threadbare.