Assam NC Hills: Indices of Instability http://peacejournalism.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=14221
With 33 militancy related fatalities in 2006, North Cachar (NC) Hills remains the third most conflict-ridden District in Assam, behind Kamrup and Tinsukia which are principally afflicted by the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) insurgency. Most of Assam's 27 Districts have been affected by militant violence in different degrees, although 11 of these recorded no militancy-related fatality in 2006. Such `peaceful' Districts were, however, marked by various other manifestations of militant activity, such as abductions, extortion and the emergence of new militant outfits, indicating a gross erosion of the State's capacity to ensure security to its citizens. The pattern of violence, however, has been the most consistent and complex in the NC Hills District. NC Hills, which has 7 per cent of Assam's population (186,189, according to the 2001 Census), and 6.24 per cent of the State's land mass, accounted for 19 per cent of all militancy-related fatalities in Assam, which totaled 174 (according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal database) in 2006. 14 civilians, 13 security force (SF) personnel and 6 militants were killed in militancy-related violence in the District. Significantly, 37 per cent of total SF fatalities in Assam were reported from the NC Hills. The NC Hills were declared a District in February 1970, and this presently consists of two Sub-divisions: Haflong (headquarters) and Maibang, divided into four Police Station jurisdictions: Haflong, Mahur, Maibang, and Umrangso. The District is inhabited by several tribes such as Dimasa, Zemi Naga, Hmar, Kuki, Biate, Hrangkhol, Karbi, Khelma, Jaintia and Vaiphei. Nearly 13 per cent of the District, spread over 4,890 square kilometers, is forested, while 80 per cent of the land falls under the `non-agricultural barren land' category. The District is sparsely populated with a population density of 38 per square kilometre. District headquarters Haflong is 368 kilometres away from Dispur, the State capital. The `remoteness' of the NC Hills its distance from the centre of governance, the underdevelopment of transport links, and consequent inaccessibility has been its bane. While NC Hills has witnessed the spillover effect of the State's `mainstream' militancies, such as ULFA, since 1995, it has been the centre of activities by the militants of the Dima Halim Daogah (DHD), which broke away from the relatively less prominent Dima National Security Force (DNSF) in 1995. Formed with the objective of carving out a separate autonomous homeland (Dimaraji) for the Dimasa tribe, the DHD has been a potent outfit, engaged in widespread subversion and violence in the District. Hopes raised by a January 1, 2003, ceasefire between the DHD and the Union Government were quickly dispelled with the formation of the Black Widow, when a section of the DHD militants, under the leadership of Jewel Garlossa, broke away from the parent outfit on March 31, 2003. While the DHD cadres, led by Dilip Nunisa, have been stationed in the four designated camps set up after the ceasefire came into being, the Black Widow militants have enjoyed a free run in the District and have engaged in periodic violence. All the 13 SF casualties in the District in 2006 were ascribed to the Black Widow. The outfit also accounted for seven civilian casualties. The ongoing Security Force (SF) operations appeared to have little impact on the Black Widow, as not a single cadre from this group figured in the six militant fatalities recorded in the District in 2006. Black Widow has periodically set up clashes with DHD cadres and has been able to establish an upper hand in the NC Hills. More than half of the militant fatalities in the District have been due to the internecine clashes between the two groups. The cadre strength of the DHD is estimated at 800, while the Black Widow is estimated to have augmented its numbers to 200 by December 2006. About 24 DHD cadres deserted their designated camp at Dihinga along the NC Hills-Karbi Anglong border in two batches on January 1 and January 3, 2007, to join the Black Widow. These renegades are being kept in the group's hideouts at Umrangso, Maibang and Mahur in NC Hills. Painarang Dimes, the Black Widow's `finance secretary', stated that the defection was "meticulously planned" and "brilliantly pulled off" by his group in December 2006. He blamed Nunisa and other leaders of the pro-talks faction of not taking care of their cadres, adding, "The camps are short of food and warm clothes." Meanwhile, Dilip Nunisa, the DHD chief, accused the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) of training Black Widow cadres at Camp Hebron near Dimapur town in Nagaland. Nunisa also accused some "mainstream political parties" of trying to weaken the Dimasa movement for autonomy by encouraging his cadres to desert the DHD. Activities of the Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF), an outfit predominantly active in the neighbouring Karbi Anglong District, also overflow into the NC Hills. KLNLF is a breakaway faction of the United People's Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), which is under a ceasefire agreement with New Delhi since May 23, 2002. The nature of violence that it engages in has, by and large, focused on abductions and extortion from persons engaged in various development projects in the District. On September 26, 2006, for instance, three employees of a manufacturing enterprise, Vinay Cements Ltd, including its senior manager, Ravi Shankar Thakur, were abducted by cadres belonging to the KLNLF faction from a mining site near Umrangso. While two employees were subsequently released, there have been no further reports regarding their senior colleague. Abutted by Meghalaya on the west, and Manipur and Nagaland on the east, NC Hills provides a traditional corridor for cross-border migration. NC Hills has historically figured in the overlapping operational area maps of many dominant insurgencies in the region, such as the ULFA, the Mizoram-based Hmar People's Conference- Democracy (HPC-D) and the Nagaland-based NSCN-IM. In fact, the NC Hills reflects the Northeast in miniature, not only from the perspective of its complex ethnic composition and strategic location, but the patterns of frequent and severe internecine clashes between militant groups organized along ethnic lines. This trend persisted through year 2006. A school-teacher was killed in an exchange of fire between HPC-D and DHD cadres in the District on February 23, 2006. On June 7, one NSCN-IM militant was killed in an encounter with the paramilitary personnel near Asalu under Maibang police station, following the abduction of four Dimasa youths and their subsequent release at the intervention of Zemi Naga villagers. On June 18, 2006, the dead bodies of three Zemi Naga youth, abducted earlier from Fiding village under Mahur Police Station, were recovered after a month; later, the Zemi Students Union, Assam (ZSU-A), accused and condemned the Dilip Nunisa faction of the DHD for its involvement in the abduction and subsequent killings. On December 13, 2006, a junior engineer of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation was killed during an internecine clash between the Black Widow and DHD at Umrangso. The pattern of militant violence, as reflected in media reportage, indicates that the District has seen a decline in the activities of mainstream groups such as ULFA, over the years. This is understandable in view of the apparent absence of any tactical alliance between ULFA and the local outfits, which make the operation of the `outside' group difficult within the District, where most groups operate on the basis of their ethnic affiliations. NC Hills has also been subjected to disruption of its developmental programmes and economic activities by militants. On March 30, 2006, Black Widow militants killed a worker engaged by a railway contractor and injured another at Retzole. On July 3, 2006, a trader was killed and several others wounded in a grenade explosion triggered by the Black Widow at a market place in Haflong town. Further, the railway construction work between Lumding in Nagaon and Silchar in Cachar through NC Hills was affected when contractors decided, in September 2006, to suspend construction work due to extortion threats by militants. On September 10, 2006, two labour sheds of the Northeast Frontier Railway's broad gauge project at Asong Haju and Saron Basti under Mahur Police Station were set ablaze by over 12 Black Widow cadres. The same faction killed 13 Railway Protection Force personnel in an ambush on October 6, 2006. Again on December 7, 2006, three employees of a construction company, Gammon India, were shot at and injured by suspected Black Widow militants at Manigiripur under the Maibang Police Station. Uday Banerjee, the survey engineer, succumbed to his injuries a day later. Finally, on December 17, 2006, at least 5,000 skilled and unskilled construction workers and technical staff, deserted the railway project, following a series of militant attacks. A cease-fire extension by another year was declared on January 1, 2007, between the Union Government and the DHD. The DHD had also made an offer to provide `cover' to personnel engaged in the railway project against militant attacks, especially by the Black Widow. Development activities have, however, remained paralysed, and the State Government, preoccupied with alternating peace initiatives towards and military operations against ULFA, has chosen to pay scant attention to NC Hills and its woes. KOUSHIK HAZARIKA http://www.koushikhazarika.co.nr
